A method of mitigating the environmental impact of invasive Asian carp is provided. The method generally involves producing a metal sorbent from the defleshed bones of a plurality of Asian carp harvested from a body of water in which the carp is invasive, and/or treating a metal contaminated material with the metal sorbent, so as to support harvesting of the invasive Asian carp from the body of water.

A thermal management system includes a sublimator that has a porous plate, a water feed line connected with the sublimator for delivering feed water to the porous plate, and an adsorbent bed in the water feed line. The sublimator is operable to freeze and sublime the feed water using the porous plate. The adsorbent bed is configured to substantially remove organic compounds from the feed water.

The present invention concerns a process for manufacturing a porous carbonaceous monolith structure comprising the steps of (i) introducing a precursor material comprising particles comprising a halogenated polymer having a melting point in a mold; (ii) forming a shaped body comprising aggregates of the particles of the precursor material, by concurrently applying to the precursor material a pressure P ranging from 10 to 300 bars when the halogenated polymer is a vinylidene chloride homopolymer and from 10 to 150 bars when the halogenated polymer differs from a vinylidene chloride homopolymer, and maintaining the precursor material at a temperature T.sub.1 ranging from T.sub.1,min=20 C. to T.sub.1,max=T.sub.m50 C. wherein T.sub.m is the melting point of the halogenated polymer, and; (iii) optionally cooling then demolding the shaped body; (iv) introducing the shaped body in a furnace; (v) causing the pyrolysis of the halogenated polymer in the furnace until the porous carbonaceous monolith structure is obtained.

Fabricating a hybrid sorbent media includes contacting a porous material with a first aqueous solution including phosphate ions to yield a first mixture, contacting the first mixture with a second aqueous solution comprising calcium ions to yield a second mixture, and adjusting a pH of the second mixture to form hydroxyapatite inside the porous media to yield the hybrid sorbent media.

The present invention concerns porous carbonaceous particles having pores including micropores and macropores, having a mean diameter, determined by laser diffraction, ranging from 15 to 100 m and porous carbonaceous monoliths comprising aggregates of said carbonaceous particles.

A formulation is described containing organic and non-organic ingredients that readily convert human, animal and bird excreta and/or biohazard into biodegradable and/or non-biodegradable gel or granules. Formulation comprises organic and/or inorganic ingredients, absorbent, biocide, binder, fragrance additive, anthelmintic, antiprotozoal, and bacterial culture. Formulation can be deployed in various forms or modes that may be placed in receptacles.

The invention provides for methods, devices, and systems for pyrolyzing biomass. A pyrolysis unit can be used for the pyrolysis of biomass to form gas, liquid, and solid products. The biomass materials can be selected such that an enhanced biochar is formed after pyrolysis. The biomass can be pyrolyzed under specified conditions such that a selected biochar core is formed. The pyrolysis process can form a stable biochar core that is inert and/or resistant to degradation. The biochar or biochar core can be functionalized to form a functionalized biochar or functionalized biochar core. Functionalization can include post-pyrolysis treatments such as supplementation with microbes or physical transformations including annealing and/or activation.

Disclosed herein are embodiments of a system for treating water. The system comprises a biochar inlet, and optionally a metal salt inlet, ozone inlet, organic carbon compound inlet or any combination thereof. The biochar may be produced by biomass pyrolysis and the pyrolysis may be coupled to energy generation. The system also comprises a filtration device, such as a reactive filtration device. The system produces a treated water stream and a reject stream, which may be further separated into a recycled water stream and a solid product. The solid product may be suitable as a soil amendment for application to agricultural land, or for recycling. A method for using the system to treat water also is disclosed.

The present invention relates to a method for the regeneration of special filter aids, namely, to crosslinked copolymers comprising N-vinylimidazole and N-vinylpyrrolidone as monomeric units, wherein an according copolymer is subsequently i) rinsed with water, ii) brought into contact with an aqueous solution of at least one acid, iii) rinsed with water to neutralize the copolymer, iv) brought into contact with an aqueous solution of at least one base, and v) rinsed with water or an aqueous solution of at least one acid to neutralize the copolymer. The invention also relates to a regenerated copolymer producible by said method and its use as a filter aid for the stabilization of beverages.

Novel carbon molecular sieve (CMS) compositions comprising carbonized vinylidene chloride copolymer having micropores with an average micropore size ranging from 3.0 to 5.0. These materials offer capability in separations of gas mixtures including, for example, propane/propylene; nitrogen/methane; and ethane/ethylene. Such may be prepared by a process wherein vinylidene chloride copolymer beads, melt extruded film or fiber are pretreated to form a precursor that is finally carbonized at high temperature. Preselection or knowledge of precursor crystallinity and attained maximum pyrolysis temperature enables preselection or knowledge of a average micropore size, according to the equation ?=6.09+(0.0275?C)?(0.00233?T), wherein ? is the average micropore size in Angstroms, C is the crystallinity percentage and T is the attained maximum pyrolysis temperature in degrees Celsius, provided that crystallinity percentage ranges from 25 to 75 and temperature in degrees Celsius ranges from 800 to 1700. The beads, fibers or film may be ground, post-pyrolysis, and combined with a non-coating binder to form extruded pellets, or alternatively the fibers may be woven, either before or after pre-treatment, to form a woven fiber sheet which is thereafter pyrolyzed to form a woven fiber adsorbent.