The present technology provides an adsorbent material that includes a silicate composition, wherein the silicate composition includes a crystalline phase; wherein the silicate composition may have an interconnected porous scaffold having a total mercury (Hg) pore volume of about 0.005 cc/g to about 0.25 cc/g for pores having a diameter of about 20-10,000 Å and a total nitrogen (N) pore volume of about 0.02 cc/g to about 0.1 cc/g for pores having a diameter of about 20-600 Å.

Sensor and method for detecting, monitoring and/or removing trace amounts of heavy metal in a liquid. The sensor including magnetic nanoparticle composites of carbon nanotubes intercalated with CoFe.sub.2O.sub.4; the method including contacting a sample of liquid with the magnetic nanoparticle composites and measuring the X-ray diffraction and magnetic properties of the magnetic nanoparticle composite, where a statistical difference in the X-ray diffraction or magnetic properties of the magnetic nanoparticle composite before and after contact between said sample of said liquid and said magnetic nanoparticle composite indicates the presence of a heavy metal in said liquid.

A method of producing a porous carbon composite fibrous mats formed of a network of carbon fibers incorporated with porous carbon particles. The method includes electrospinning a polymer solution to form a porous layer of polymeric fibers and the polymeric fibers are doped with a precursor of conductive metal particles, wherein the polymer solution includes a polymer and the precursor of the conductive metal particles, electrospraying a metal organic framework suspension onto the porous layer of polymeric fibers, wherein the metal organic framework suspension includes metal organic framework particles, repeating the electrospinning and electrospraying in an alternating manner to form a porous network of polymeric fibers incorporated with the metal organic framework particles, and heating the porous network of polymeric fibers incorporated with the metal organic framework particles to form the porous carbon composite fibrous mats. The porous carbon composite fibrous mats and its applications thereof are also disclosed herein.

A polymer/activated carbon composite made up of a branched polyethylenimine and magnetic cores involving Fe.sub.3O.sub.4 disposed activated carbon. The magnetic cores have activated carbonyl groups on the surface. A process for removing organic dyes, such as methyl red, as well as heavy metal ions from a polluted aqueous solution or an industrial wastewater utilizing the composite is introduced. A method of synthesizing the polymer/activated carbon composites is also specified.

A smart sand includes raw sand particles, synthetic SiO.sub.2 particles attached to the raw sand particles, a first material attached to a first set of the synthetic SiO.sub.2 particles, a second material attached to a second set of the synthetic SiO.sub.2 particles, and a third material attached to the first material. Each of the first to third materials is different from each other.

Provided is a purification material capable of highly efficiently removing contaminant components from water. A water purification material has a composition represented by a mixing ratio of zeolite, ferric hydroxide, activated carbon, titanium oxide, and magnesium hydroxide of 6 to 7:1 to 2:0.5 to 1:0.01 to 0.05:0.01 to 0.10 in terms of weight ratio.

The present invention provides a multi-stage filter system suitable for the production of drinking water from a wide variety of contaminated water sources. The modular nature of the multi-stage filter system allows for the customization of filter combinations according to the remediation requirements. The multi-stage filter system comprises a coarse filter (S1); an ultrafiltration filter (S2); a graphene-based filter (S3); and a residual nanoparticle filter (S4). The graphene-based filter cartridge comprises few-layer graphene powder; a combination of few-layer graphene powder and pellets comprising a mixture of polyethersulfone, graphene oxide (GO), and dimethylformamide; a composite comprising chitosan, GO, sodium sulfate and ferric chloride; or a combination of few-layer graphene powder, granular activated carbon and a composite comprising chitosan, GO, sodium sulfate and ferric chloride.

A method for producing a modified sawdust sorbent. The method involves sulfonating sawdust with sulfuric acid and oxidizing the sulfonated sawdust with hydrogen peroxide. The method yields a modified sawdust sorbent containing sulfonated and oxidized cellulose. The modified sawdust sorbent has a higher surface area, higher organic dye adsorption capacity, and more rapid organic dye adsorption rate than unmodified sawdust. Also disclosed is a method of using the modified sawdust sorbent for organic dye removal from water.

A medium for fast, selective oil-water separation and/or oil absorption includes steel wool modified with a polymer a polymer or a polymer mixture. The polymer or the polymer mixture is adapted such that the medium is a superwetting material that is superhydrophobic and superoleophilic under water. The polymer or the polymer mixture includes polydimethylsiloxane, polytetrafluoroethylene, polyvinylpyrrolidone, or a combination thereof. The solution immersion method used to synthesize the medium requires only a single, simple step and affordable materials and, as a result, is easy to scale up.

A method of obtaining water from a liquid composition comprising water, the method comprising: (a) providing a sorbent material; (b) contacting the sorbent material with the liquid composition comprising water; (c) separating the sorbent material and the liquid composition comprising water; and (d) desorbing water from the sorbent material; wherein the sorbent material is a metal-organic material.