British American Tobacco (investments) Limited

Mast Carbon International, Ltd.

British American Tobacco Limited

Jonathan Robert Tunbridge

Stephen Robert Tennison

Andrew John Blackburn

Roger Nicholas Place

Tho Truong Huynh

Piers Catton

Oleksandr Prokopovych Kozynchenko

Alan Mark Giles

Vladimir Strelko, Jr

Oleksandr Kozynchenko

This disclosure relates to carbonizing and activating carbonaceous material. In some embodiments, the material is selected from coconut-derived material and like material of vegetable origin and resin materials to produce activated carbon, the production comprising supplying the material to the inlet end of a kiln, supplying to the kiln an atmosphere comprising steam or carbon dioxide substantially free of oxygen, maintaining a first region of the kiln having an independently controllable supply of heat at a temperature sufficient for drying or removing solvent from the material without carbonization, maintaining a second region of the kiln having an independently controllable supply of heat downstream from the first region at a temperature sufficient for carbonization of the material without activation; maintaining a third region of the kiln having an independently controllable supply of heat downstream from the second region at a temperature sufficient for activation of the carbonized material, and collecting activated carbon from the discharge end of the kiln.

Carbonising and/or activating carbonaceous material

A process is provided for producing discrete solid beads of polymeric material e.g. phenolic resin having a mesoporous structure, which process may produce resin beads on an industrial scale without aggregates of resin building up speedily and interrupting production. The process comprises the steps of: (a) combining a stream of a polymerizable liquid precursor e.g. a novolac and hexamine as cross-linking agent dissolved in a first polar organic liquid e.g. ethylene glycol with a stream of a liquid suspension medium which is a second non-polar organic liquid with which the liquid precursor is substantially or completely immiscible e.g. transformer oil containing a drying oil; (b) mixing the combined stream to disperse the polymerizable liquid precursor as droplets in the suspension medium e.g. using an in-line static mixer; (c) allowing the droplets to polymerise in a laminar flow of the suspension medium so as to form discrete solid beads that cannot agglomerate; and (d) recovering the beads from the suspension medium. Also provided is an apparatus for forming discrete solid beads of polymeric material. In other embodiments, a method is provided for carbonizing and activating carbonaceous material, and an externally fired rotary kiln for carbonizing and activating carbonaceous material.

Making discrete solid particles of polymeric material

An electrical heater element of controlled resistivity which can be used for a wide range of applications is formed from an electrically conductive synthetic porous carbon monolith.

Heater for fluids comprising an electrically conductive porous monolith

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Hampshire, United Kingdom

Jonathan Robert Tunbridge