A module for optionally recharging sorbent materials in-line, including zirconium phosphate, with an optional bypass and conduits for a sorbent cartridge. The sorbent cartridge can have one or more modules contained therein having connectors connecting each of the modules. One or more of the modules can be reusable and the sorbent materials therein recharged.

A method is disclosed for the separation of ethane and heavier hydrocarbons or propane and heavier hydrocarbons from natural gas to provide a methane-rich natural gas stream and less volatile natural gas liquids (NGLs). This method provides for the use of a regenerable adsorbent media comprising a porous cross-linked polymeric adsorbent, a pyrolized macroporous polymer, or mixtures thereof, which is regenerated by a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process, temperature swing adsorption (TSA) process, or combination of the two. Said regeneration step may be operated as a batch process, a semi-continuous process, or preferably as a continuous process.

A method of separating a rare earth element from coal and clay ores includes subjecting a raw coal to a liquefaction process to form a pitch or a pitch resin and filtering the pitch or pitch resin to capture the rare earth element. The method further includes refining the pitch or pitch resin to produce a mesophase pitch. The method also includes subjecting the mesophase pitch or pitch resin to a low-crystallinity spinning process to form a carbon fiber.

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.

Disclosed herein are compositions, methods, and systems for supramolecular gold stripping where the composition comprises a surface-bound, linear gold anion and a solution comprising a molecular receptor that facilitates the transfer of the linear gold anion from the surface to the solution.

The present disclosure discloses an electrochemical regeneration method of activated carbon, including the following steps of placing activated carbon saturated with an organic compound into an electrolysis system containing a regeneration solution to serve as a cathode of the electrolysis system, adding a peroxide I and a peroxide II to the regeneration solution, connecting to power and conducting a reaction, and after the reaction is completed, taking out and drying the activated carbon to obtain regenerated activated carbon, where the peroxide I is a persulfate. The present disclosure is easy to operate and requires no addition of a metal ion. Many technologies are used and cooperated with each other to produce oxidative and reductive active species synchronously, thereby achieving efficient degradation and mineralization of refractory organic pollutants.

Method for treating water for the purpose of reducing the content of organic matter, of micropollutants and of pathogenic agents therein, comprising the supplying of water to be treated directly into a membrane reactor containing at least one filtration membrane and an adsorbent material, stirring the mixture of water and adsorbent, and extracting treated water, characterised in that the adsorbent material consists of micrograins of activated carbon having a real density of at least 0.45, a settling velocity of 30 to 50 m/H, a specific surface area of 400 to 2500 m.sup.2/g, and an average particle size of between 600 and 1300 m, less than 5% by volume of said grains having a size of less than 400 m, in that the concentration of said activated carbon micrograins in said membrane reactor is maintained between 5 and 100 g/L, and in that no other granular or particulate material other than the activated carbon micrograins is used in said reactor, the stirring of said mixture of water and activated carbon micrograins in the membrane reactor being at least partially carried out by air injection into said mixture at a rate of 30 to 60 Nm.sup.3/m.sup.2.Math.H and being sufficiently vigorous to avoid the deposit of activated carbon micrograins on said at least one filtration membrane

Provided is a method for treating sulfuric acid comprising the step (I) of bringing said sulfuric acid into contact with a collection of solid particles (B) having BET surface area of 50 m.sup.2/g to 5,000 m.sup.2/g and having volume-average particle diameter of 200 m or less.

Mesoporous activated carbon having a mesopore structure of at least about 10%. In at least some embodiments, the activated carbon may be coconut shell-based. The enhanced activated carbon may have an intraparticle diffusion constant of at least about 40 mg/g/hr.sup.1/2.

Certain aspects and examples are directed to sorbent devices and methods of using them. In certain embodiments, a sorbent device comprising a body comprising a sampling inlet, a sampling outlet and a cavity between the inlet and the outlet, the cavity comprising a serial arrangement of at least four different sorbent materials is described. In some embodiments, the sorbent materials are arranged from a material with a weakest sorbent strength to a material with a strongest sorbent strength with the weakest sorbent strength material adjacent to the sampling inlet.