A toilet apparatus has a waste material receiving bowl with an opening to receive an absorbent media and indicator and a sensor to detect a presence of the indicator in the material receiving bowl when the indicator is present in the material receiving bowl and transmit a signal indicating the indicator is present in the material receiving bowl. A control circuit receives the signal from the sensor, processes the signal to determine the indicator is present in the material receiving bowl, and causes one or more actions to be taken by the toilet apparatus based on determining the indicator is present in the material receiving bowl.

The present invention generally relates to a process for making a metal oxide composition for use in removing contaminants from streams. A process of the present disclosure comprises contacting a metal salt with an aqueous solvent to form a metal salt mixture and reacting the metal salt mixture and a metal powder without the addition of heat. The present invention also relates to a process for making a coated metal oxide substrate.

A method is described to make a chemically activated carbon by first immersing a suitable carbonized material into a neutral aqueous solution of inorganic salts that constitutes the chemical activating agent. The carbonized material is then removed and forms a chemically loaded activatable material that is separately heated at temperatures up to 1000 C. to form the chemically activated carbon. An additional CO.sub.2 or steam activation step is implemented to increase the surface area up to 3000 m.sup.2/gm. The chemical activating agents are nitrate salts in aqueous solutions, and may be reused since they are not directly heated as part of the activation process. The carbonized precursor materials include naturally occurring sources of carbon, synthetic polymeric materials and petroleum based sources.

Disclosed is the use of a separation agent including fibril cellulose for phase separation, as well as to a method for the separation of at least one liquid phase from at least one phase selected from a second liquid phase, solid phase and semi-solid phase, where the method includes the steps of incorporating a separation agent including fibril cellulose to a mixture where separation of the phases is desired, followed by formation of phases and removing the phases.

A process for preparing magnetic activated carbons including the steps of a) treating an aqueous solution having a biomass hydrothermally at autogenic pressure at a temperature 180 and 250 C., under acidic conditions in the presence of iron ions, to obtain a precursor product, b) activating the precursor product obtained in step a) by mixing an activating agent at elevated temperatures between 550 and 850 C., for a period up to 9h. The disclosure also relates to magnetic activated carbon prepared according to the process and use of the carbon for separation and storage of gases and purification of liquids. A method for separation of particles from a liquid and/or a gas, and method for regenerating magnetic activated carbon by heating using an oscillating electromagnetic field are also disclosed.

A method for manufacturing coffee activated carbon includes performing a pretreatment process of manufacturing coffee grains using a binding mixture including coffee powder particles and a binder, performing a main treatment process of carbonizing and activating the coffee grains and manufacturing coffee activated carbon, and performing a post-treatment process of impregnating an impregnating agent including an amine group into the coffee activated carbon.

A superabsorbent material generally free of organic solvents and having a high overall porosity and a high percentage of micropores are provided. The superabsorbent material is formed from a high-molecular weight linear water-soluble absorbent polymer and a non-reactive or latent crosslinking agent, and contains a plurality of micropores having a size of about 150 ?m or less. The superabsorbent material is formed into a variety of shapes having a high external surface to volume ratio.

A hydrophilic polymer matrix wherein the polymer matrix comprises one or more monomers or polymers selected from the group consisting of Diglycidyl Ethers, Polyacrylamides, Polyvinyls, Polysaccharides, Polyesters, Esters, Polyethylene Glycols, Polypropylene Glycols, Butanediols, Epoxides or other hydrophilic polymers that are crosslinked to form a flexible non-soluble polymer matrix that has more than one excess or unreacted molecule and wherein excess molecules are available or have electrons available for one or more charge coupling or bonding reactions that are reversible, with one or more target molecules such as but not limited to salts, chlorides, acids and or ion species solvated in water or other solvent.

The present invention relates to a method for producing polymers that are suitable for absorbing and storing aqueous liquids, and to polymers that can be obtained by this method. This invention further related to the use of such polymers. The method comprises the following steps: i. crosslinking free-radical polymerization of a monomer composition M comprising a) at least one monomer A having an ethylenic double bond and at least one neutralizable acid group or a group hydrolyzable to a neutralizable acid group, b) optionally one or more comonomers B which are different than the monomers A and have one ethylenic double bond, and c) 0.05 to 10% by weight, based on the total amount of monomers A and B, of at least one crosslinker C, in the presence of at least one polysaccharide-comprising substance S, in an aqueous liquid, where the weight ratio of the monomer composition M to the substance S is in the range from 9:1 to 1:9; and ii. at least partial neutralization of the acid groups and/or hydrolysis of the groups hydrolyzable to neutralizable acid groups in the polymer obtained in step i.;
wherein the polymerization and/or the neutralization is performed in the presence of urea.

A porous adsorbent structure that is capable of a reversible adsorption and desorption cycle for capturing CO.sub.2 from a gas mixture comprises a support matrix formed by a web of surface modified cellulose nanofibers. The support matrix has a porosity of at least 20%. The surface modified cellulose nanofibers consist of cellulose nanofibers having a diameter of about 4 nm to about 1000 nm and a length of 100 nm to 1 mm that are covered with a coupling agent being covalently bound to the surface thereof. The coupling agent comprises at least one monoalkyldialkoxyaminosilane.