A method and system are disclosed for regenerating carbonaceous adsorbent, the method comprising the steps of: a) providing a carbonaceous adsorbent comprising a catalyst and adsorbed contaminants, b) pyrolysing of the adsorbed contaminants, c) reactivating the carbonaceous adsorbent by subjecting the carbonaceous adsorbent to steam thereby obtaining a reactivated carbonaceous adsorbent, d) cooling the thus obtained reactivated carbonaceous adsorbent to a temperature of less than 250? C. and e) oxidizing catalyst that is in a reduced state following steps b) and c) comprised in the reactivated carbonaceous adsorbent.

A method of treating coal that is combusted in a combustion chamber at a coal-combustion facility that includes adding an additive to the coal for mercury emissions control. The adding of the additive to the coal is performed before the coal enters the combustion chamber. The additive includes Br.sub.2, I.sub.2, a bromide compound, an iodide compound, HBr, HI, or a combination thereof.

A promoted carbon and/or non-carbon base sorbent are described that are highly effective for the removal of mercury from flue gas streams. The promoted sorbent comprises a carbon and/or non-carbon base sorbent that has reacted with and contains forms of halogen and halides. Optional components may be added to increase and/or preserve reactivity and mercury capacity. These may be added directly with the base sorbent, or in-flight within a gas stream (air, flue gas, etc.), to enhance base sorbent performance and/or mercury capture. Mercury removal efficiencies obtained exceed conventional methods. The promoted sorbent can be regenerated and reused. Base sorbent treatment and preparation methods are also described. New methods for in-flight preparation, introduction, and control of the active base sorbent into the mercury contaminated gas stream are described.

A process for purification of a carbon dioxide feedstock that includes carbon dioxide and gaseous and liquid C.sub.1+ hydrocarbons. Specifically, a carbon dioxide feedstream is passed through one or more separation unit, each separation unit removing one or more C.sub.1+ hydrocarbon from the carbon dioxide feedstream to provide a richer carbon dioxide gas stream. The one or more separation unit employs an adsorption media and has an adsorption step and a media regeneration step.

Mesoporous activated carbon is disclosed. In at least some embodiments, virgin activated carbon to be processed may be coconut shell-based. The enhanced activated carbon may have a mesopore structure of at least about 10%. The enhanced activated carbon may be produced through a calcium-catalyzed activation process. A chelator may also be used. Catalyzed thermal activation may be carried out until a desired mass loss is achieved.

A porous activated asphaltene material is described with a method of making and a method of using for the adsorption of a contaminant from a solution. The porous activated asphaltene material may be made by functionalizing solid asphaltene with nitric acid, and then treating the product with a metal hydroxide. The resulting porous activated asphaltene material exhibits a high porosity, and may be cleaned and reused for adsorbing contaminants.

Provided is a system and method for extracting organic solutes from water with a filter media. The system and method allow for regenerating the filter media following treatment of a water supply containing one or more organic solutes to allow the media to be reused for subsequent water treatment operations. The system and method also allows for regeneration of the displacement fluid for reuse in the regeneration of the media with recovery of at least one or more organic solutes from the displacement fluid. Additionally, the system and method allows for substantially continuous treatment of a water supply and regeneration of a filter media.

Provided are a noble metal adsorbent, a method for recovering a noble metal, and a method for regenerating a noble metal adsorbent that can easily recover noble metal while high adsorption performance for noble metals is achieved. The noble metal adsorbent according to the present invention includes a metal sulfide. The metal sulfide is constituted of, for example, molybdenum disulfide particles. The method for recovering a noble metal according to the present invention includes adsorbing a noble metal onto the noble metal adsorbent, and thereafter heating and volatilizing the noble metal adsorbent in the presence of oxygen to recover the noble metal.

Provided are sorbents and associated methods and systems for removing mercury from process gases or fluid streams. The sorbents may include activated carbon and pyrite. The sorbents may optionally include one or more additives, such as a halide salt.

A method for producing a nanocomposite sorbent comprising carbon nanotube-grafted acrylic acid/acrylamide copolymer which involves copolymerization of acrylic acid and acrylamide in the presence of an aqueous dispersion of carbon nanotubes. The method yields a nanocomposite sorbent material having a reversible adsorption capacity phenol of 5 to 2500 ?g of phenol per mg of nanocomposite sorbent. Also disclosed is a method for removing organic pollutants from water using the nanocomposite sorbent.