Provided are a silicotitanate molded body having high strength and reduced generation of fine powder, a production method thereof, an adsorbent comprising the silicotitanate molded body, and a decontamination method of radioactive cesium and/or radioactive strontium by using the adsorbent. The silicotitanate molded body comprises: crystalline silicotitanate particles that have a particle size distribution in which 90% or more, on volume basis, of the particles have a particle size within a range of 1 μm or more and 10 μm or less and that are represented by a general formula of A.sub.2Ti.sub.2O.sub.3(SiO.sub.4).nH.sub.2O wherein A represents one or two alkali metal elements selected from Na and K, and n represents a number of 0 to 2; and an oxide of one or more elements selected from the group consisting of aluminum, zirconium, iron, and cerium.

Disclosed are embodiments of a filter unit containing a water adsorbent material in the form of water adsorbent particles in a packed bed and a gas adsorbent material in the form of gas adsorbent particles in a packed bed. In embodiments, the gas adsorbent material is downstream from the water adsorbent material in a direction of operation. Further disclosed are methods of preparing and using the filter units.

Porous cellulose microparticles and their use in, inter alias, cosmetic and pharmaceutic preparations are provided. These microparticles comprise cellulose I nanocrystals aggregated together, thus forming the microparticles, and arranged around cavities in the microparticles, thus defining pores in the microparticles. A method of for producing these microparticles is also provided. It involves mixing a suspension of cellulose I nanocrystals with an emulsion of a porogen to produce a mixture comprising a continuous liquid phase in which droplets of the porogen are dispersed and in which the nanocrystals of cellulose I are suspended; spray-drying the mixture to produce microparticles; and if the porogen has not sufficiently evaporated during spray-drying to form pores in the microparticles, evaporating the porogen or leaching the porogen out of the microparticles to form pores in the microparticles.

The invention discloses a core-shell structure polymer magnetic nanosphere with a high Cr (VI) adsorption capacity and its preparation method and application. The preparation method includes: adding Fe.sub.3O.sub.4 powder into a mixed solution of water and ethanol, dispersing Fe.sub.3O.sub.4 powder in the solution evenly by ultrasound, sequentially adding resorcinol and formaldehyde into the suspension to adjust a pH, stirring and reacting to obtain Fe.sub.3O.sub.4@RF evenly dispersed in a chitosan solution, dropwise adding the prepared suspension into a mixed solution of paraffin and span 80, stirring for a period of time, adding a glutaraldehyde aqueous solution, stirring and reacting to obtain a magnetic chitosan nanosphere. The magnetic chitosan nanosphere prepared may be applied to adsorbing Cr (VI) in a water solution. Not only the magnetic chitosan nanospheres prepared has a high adsorption capacity for Cr (VI), but also can be quickly separated by an external magnetic field after adsorption.

The method and materials of this invention make possible substantially faster techniques for organic-aqueous extractions and routine chemical reactions work-ups. The inventive material uses silicone elastomer-coated glass powders, magnetic powders, and sponges as absorbents to extract organic products from an aqueous mixture. After separation from the mixture, these different forms now loaded with organic products can serve as a convenient input for flash chromatographic separations or other processing. With these techniques, tedious liquid-liquid extractions are replaced by a simple solid filtration or transfer and emulsion formation is eliminated. These versatile sorbents can also be used for larger scale work-ups, various extractions of organics from an aqueous solution (e.g., water purification) or gas phase and various analytical or other applications.

A metal adsorbent-carrying carbon material for a positive electrode for lithium ion secondary batteries including a carbon material; and a metal adsorbent which is supported on the carbon material, wherein the metal adsorbent is a material which can adsorb iron ions (Fe.sup.2+, Fe.sup.3+).

The invention discloses method for manufacturing agar or agarose beads, comprising the steps of: a) providing a water phase comprising an aqueous solution of agar or agarose at a temperature of 40-100° C.: b) providing an oil phase comprising a water-immiscible solvent and an emulsifier at a temperature of 40-100° C.; c) emulsifying the water phase in the oil phase to form a water-in-oil emulsion: d) cooling the water-in-oil emulsion to a temperature below a gelation temperature of the agar or agarose to form a dispersion of solidified agar or agarose beads: and c) recovering agar or agarose beads from dispersion, wherein the emulsifier comprises a phosphate ester of an alkoxy lated fatty alcohol.

A composite material for gas capture including CO.sub.2 capture and capture of other gases. The composite material includes solid or liquid reactive material, filler material, and a gas-permeable polymer coating such that the reactive material forms micron-scale domains in the filler material.

The present invention provides that powder is mainly constituted from secondary particles of hydroxyapatite. The secondary particles are obtained by drying a slurry containing primary particles of hydroxyapatite and aggregates thereof and granulating the primary particles and the aggregates. A bulk density of the powder is 0.65 g/mL or more and a specific surface area of the secondary particles is 70 m.sup.2/g or more. The powder of the present invention has high strength and is capable of exhibiting superior adsorption capability when it is used for an adsorbent an adsorption apparatus has.

The invention discloses a separation matrix comprised of porous spherical particles to which antibody-binding protein ligands have been covalently immobilized, wherein the density of said ligands is in the range of 10.5-15 mg/ml and the volume-weighted median diameter of said particles is in the range of 30-55 μm.