A soil improver for increasing the liquid storage capacity of soils made of a plastic foam, the plastic foam having at least predominantly open cells, characterized in that the plastic foam has a raw density of 5 to 15 kg/m.sup.3. The invention also relates to a method for producing a plastic foam of such a soil improver.

Compositions including a sintered porous ultra-high-molecular-weight polypropylene material having a viscosity average molecular weight over 500,000, an average porc size ranging from 10 m to 200 m, and a porosity ranging from 20% to 60%. Devices and methods including such compositions.

A cell adsorption material includes fibers or particles of a water-insoluble carrier with at least one bound nitrogen-containing compound. The nitrogen-containing compound is selected from polyamines and aliphatic amines. The fibers or particles have a region A within 1.0 m from an outermost surface of a cross-sectional surface of the fibers or the particles, and a region B within 0.5 m radius from a center of gravity of the cross-sectional surface of the fibers or the particles, a spectral intensity of .sup.26CN.sup. satisfies formulae (1) and (2) when a spectral intensity of .sup.25C.sub.2H.sup. in each of the regions measured by Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry is set to be 1:0.5the spectral intensity of .sup.26CN.sup. in the region A3.0 . . . (1); 3.0 the spectral intensity of .sup.26CN.sup. in the region A/the spectral intensity of .sup.26CN.sup. in the region B20.0 . . . (2).

Porous structures are made from compositions that include hollow glass bodies and an inorganic powder. The inorganic powder may act as a rigid frame member, a crystallization agent, or both, which reduces the shrinkage of the porous structures during firing. The porous structures made therefrom have an open porosity of greater than 70% and reduced shrinkage of less than 10% compared to the green structures prior to firing. Methods for firing the green structures made from the compositions are also disclosed, the firing methods including reducing a temperature ramping rate of the green structures during a crystallization temperature range of the glass of the hollow bodies.

A process for synthesizing a carbon molecular sieve and an activated carbon from expanded polystyrene is provided. The process includes sulfonating the expanded polystyrene with sulfuric acid in the presence of a solvent, for example, chloroform, to obtain sulfonated polystyrene; carbonizing the sulfonated polystyrene to obtain a carbon molecular sieve (CMS) with a substantially high degree of porosity; and activating the CMS by adding an activating agent to the CMS to obtain an activated carbon with a substantially high degree of porosity. The activating agent is selected from one or more of steam, potassium hydroxide, carbon dioxide, zinc chloride, phosphoric acid, sodium carbonate, aluminum chloride, magnesium chloride, and sodium hydroxide. A low temperature of, for example, about 50 degrees Celsius, is employed for sulfonating the expanded polystyrene. Heating and cooling operations in the steps of synthesizing and activating the CMS are performed under a nitrogen gas atmosphere.

An active catalyst for ammonia synthesis is integrated with a specialty sorbent in a composition or composite, such that the catalyst portion and the sorbent portion are in direct intimate contact, which overcomes the thermodynamic limits for conversion. The sorbent may comprise a metal halide absorbent, zeolite adsorbent, other material absorbents or adsorbents, to capture ammonia as it is produced in intimate or near molecular contact with the catalyst, wherein the composition/composite may be provided in the form of a granular or pellet structure. By removing ammonia essentially as it forms, the forward reaction for producing ammonia can continue nearly unabated such that high net conversion can be achieved in a single pass or cumulative within segmented reactors as operated in series.

Covalently cross-linked copolymers are described herein. More specifically, polysaccharide-polyamine copolymeric matrices or structures and cationic copolymeric matrices are described herein. The polysaccharide-polyamine copolymers, when protonated, can form cationic copolymeric matrices having exceptionally high densities of cationic sites. In one form, the covalently cross-linked copolymers provide a three-dimensional structure, especially when hydrated.

Methods of treating cancer in a subject by administering a therapeutically effective amount of a porous biocompatible sorbent are disclosed. The porous biocompatible sorbents comprise a range of pore diameters between about 50 to about 40,000 and a pore volume between about 0.5 cc/g to about 5.0 cc/g dry polymer.

Porous polymer particles include a polymer matrix and a pore dispersed in the polymer matrix. The pore has a diameter ranging from 50 nm to 500 nm; An epoxy content contained in 1 g of the porous polymer particles ranges from 500 mol to less than 5000 mol. Also provided is a column for protein purification including porous polymer particles.

Superabsorbent particles having a median size of from about 50 to about 2,000 micrometers and containing nanopores having an average cross-sectional dimension of from about 10 to about 500 nanometers are provided. The superabsorbent particles exhibit a Vortex Time of about 80 seconds or less.