The invention provides a composition of particulate materials. The composition comprises lanthanum chloride in particulate form. The composition also comprises up to about 4% by weight of amorphous silica in particulate form, based on the combined weight of the lanthanum chloride and the amorphous silica. The addition of amorphous silica to desiccated lanthanum chloride forms a fine coating or barrier on the outer surfaces of the individual lanthanum crystals, providing a composition that is significantly more stable and able to resist coalescence of particles than pure desiccated lanthanum chloride.

A fluid filter, filtering medium composition, and associated process for removing contaminants from feed and exhaust fluids used in fuel cell electricity generation, laboratories, the semiconductor and other industries to improve performance and extend useful equipment lifetimes and to clean fluids of sulfur compound contaminants, as well as to remove noxious NOx and halogen contaminants from feed and exhaust gases.

An adsorbent composition for capturing pollutants includes a porous composition that includes a plurality of ferric oxyhydroxide particles and an additional component in the porous composition. The additional component includes one of copper chloride (CuCl.sub.2), zinc chloride (ZnCl.sub.2), polyvinylpolypyrrolidone, silicon carbide, silicon dioxide, activated carbon or other carbonaceous material, and a combination thereof.

Provided are a superabsorbent polymer and a preparation method thereof, including preparing a base resin and conducting surface modification of the base resin in the presence of an inorganic filler. The method of preparing the superabsorbent polymer of the present invention may provide a superabsorbent polymer having improved rewetting property and liquid permeability.

An adsorbent bed, including at least one elementary composite structure that includes adsorbent particles in a polymer matrix, wherein the adsorbent bed has a bed packing, ρ.sub.bed, defined as a volume occupied by the at least one elementary composite structure V.sub.ecs divided by a volume of the adsorbent bed V.sub.bed where ρ.sub.bed is greater than 0.60.

A closed-loop nitrogen transport system including a first transfer line configured for nitrogen pressure conveyance of a polymer fluff from at least one upstream vessel to at least one downstream vessel, a second transfer line configured to return a nitrogen gas stream comprising primarily nitrogen from the at least one downstream vessel to the at least one upstream vessel, a conveyor blower operable to provide flow throughout the closed loop, and a treatment unit operable to remove hydrocarbons from at least a portion of the nitrogen gas stream comprising primarily nitrogen, to provide a purified nitrogen stream.

A solid particulate reactive sorbent for decontaminating toxic chemical and biological agents and its method of making. The reactive sorbent comprising a plurality of aggregates formed from linked hydrophilic nanoparticles and individual nanoparticles that bind at least one detoxifier, such that the sorbent absorbs the agents, allowing the detoxifier to oxidize and decontaminate the agents for removal. More preferably, the hydrophilic nanoparticles comprise fumed silica and the detoxifier comprises hydrogen peroxide.

A production method of water-absorbent resin particles is disclosed, the method including: preparing a monomer aqueous solution containing an ethylenically unsaturated monomer and silica; polymerizing the ethylenically unsaturated monomer in the monomer aqueous solution by an aqueous solution polymerization method to obtain a hydrogel-like polymer; and coarsely crushing the hydrogel-like polymer, in which a concentration of the silica in the monomer aqueous solution is 0.02 to 4.0 ppm.

The present invention relates to a flow-through device comprising at least one separation column wherein a first packing component, which comprises particles of alumina and/or silica, and a second packing component, which comprises a powder of one or more hygroscopic salts are provided. The two packing components may be blended or layered in the device, which may comprise a single tube or a plurality of tubes arranged in a plate format, such as the wells of a multiwall plate or tubes in a rack. In addition, the invention relates to a method for removing one or more matrix components, such as pigments, from a biological sample, by passing said sample across a first packing component, which comprises particles of alumina and/or silica, and a second packing component, which comprises a powder of one or more hygroscopic salts.

The present invention relates, in general terms, to methods of forming activated carbon. The method of forming activated carbon comprises mixing carbon black with an activation catalyst and heating the carbon black in order to form the activated carbon. The present invention also relates to applications of activated carbon as disclosed herein. In a preferred embodiment, the activation catalyst is selected from ammonium persulfate, sodium persulfate, potassium persulfate or a combination thereof.