Water filter materials and water filters and processes for using the same

1. A filter for providing potable water, comprising:

(a) a housing having an inlet and an outlet; and

(b) a filter material disposed within said housing formed at least in part from a plurality of filter particles consisting of mesoporous activated carbon, wherein;

(i) the sum of the mesopore and macropore volumes of said filter particles is between about 0.2 mL/g and about 2 mL/g; wherein mesopore means an intra-particle pore having a diameter between 2 nm and 50 nm, and macropore means an intra-particle pore having a diameter greater than 50 nm;

(ii) the total pore volume of said filter particles is greater than about 0.4 mL/g and less than about 3 mL/g; and

(iii) the ratio of the sum of the mesopore and macropore volumes to the total pore volume of said filter particles is greater than about 0.3;

wherein said filter is operable to remove microorganisms from water flowing into said inlet and out of said outlet; and

wherein said filter has a Filter Bacteria Log Removal of greater than about 2 logs and a Filter Viruses Log Removal of greater than about 1 log.

2. The filter of claim 1 , wherein the sum of the mesopore and the macropore volumes of said plurality of filter particles is between about 0.4 mL/g and about 1 mL/g.

3. The filter of claim 1 , wherein said plurality of filter particles has a Bacteria Removal Index of greater than about 99%, and a Viruses Removal Index of greater than about 90%.

4. The filter of claim 1 , wherein said filter material is disposed in said housing for axial flow, wherein said filter material has a face area of at least 1.5 in. 2 and a filter depth of at least 0.25 in.

5. The filter of claim 1 , wherein said filter material is disposed in said housing for radial flow, wherein said filter material has an outside diameter of at least 0.5 in., an inside diameter of at least 0.25 in., a filter depth of at least 0.125 in., and a length of at least 0.5 in.

6. The filter of claim 1 , wherein said filter material has an average fluid residence time of at least 3 s.

7. The filter of claim 1 , wherein said filter material has a single-collector efficiency, η, of between about 0.005 and 0.25, and a filter coefficient, λ, between about 40 m −1 and about 14,000 m −1 .

8. A filter for providing potable water, comprising:

(a) a housing having an inlet and an outlet; and

(b) a filter material disposed within said housing formed at least in part from a plurality of filter particles consisting of mesoporous and basic activated carbon, wherein:

(i) the sum of the mesopore and macropore volumes of said filter particles is between about 0.2 mL/g and about 2 mL/g; wherein mesopore means an intra-particle pore having a diameter between 2 nm and 50 nm, and macropore means an intra-particle pore having a diameter greater than 50 nm;

(ii) the total pore volume of said filter particles is greater than about 0.4 mL/g and less than about 3 mL/g; and

(iii) the ratio of the sum of the mesopore and macropore volumes to the total pore volume of said filter particles is greater than about 0.3;

wherein said filter is operable to remove microorganisms from water flowing into said inlet and out of said outlet; and

wherein said filter has a Filter Bacteria Log Removal of greater than about 2 logs and a Filter Viruses Log Removal of greater than about 1 log.

9. The filter of claim 8 , wherein said plurality of filter particles has a point of zero charge between about 9 and about 12 and an Oxidation Reduction Potential between about 290 mV and about 175 mV.

10. A filter for providing potable water, comprising:

(a) a housing having an inlet and an outlet; and

(b) a filter material disposed within said housing formed at least in part from a plurality of filter particles consisting of mesoporous, basic, and reduced-oxygen activated carbon, wherein:

(i) the sum of the mesopore and macropore volumes of said filter particles is between about 0.2 mL/g and about 2 mL/g; wherein mesopore means an intra-particle pore having a diameter between 2 nm and 50 nm, and macropore means an intra-particle pore having a diameter greater than 50 nm;

(ii) the total pore volume of said filter particles is greater than about 0.4 mL/g and less than about 3 mL/g; and

(iii) the ratio of the sum of the mesopore and macropore volumes to the total pore volume of said filter particles is greater than about 0.3;

wherein said filter is operable to remove microorganisms from water flowing into said inlet and out of said outlet; and

wherein said filter has a Filter Bacteria Log Removal of greater than about 2 logs and a Filter Viruses Log Removal of greater than about 1 log.

11. The filter of claim 10 , wherein said plurality of filter particles has a point of zero charge of greater than about 8, and an Oxidation Reduction Potential of less than about 325 mV.

12. The filter of claim 10 , wherein said plurality of filter particles has a bulk oxygen percentage by weight of less than about 1.2%.

13. The filter of claim 1 , wherein said filter further comprises information which communicates to a user that the filter may be used to remove microorganisms.

14. The filter of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of said plurality of filter particles are coated with a secondary material.

15. The filter of claim 14 , wherein said secondary material is selected from the group consisting of silver, a silver-containing material, a cationic polymer, and mixtures thereof.

16. The filter of claim 1 , wherein said filter material is further formed at least in part from other materials selected from the group consisting of activated carbon powders, activated carbon granules, activated carbon fibers, zeolites, activated alumina, activated magnesia, diatomaceous earth, silver particles, activated silica, hydrotalcites, glass, polyethylene fibers, polypropylene fibers, ethylene maleic anhydride copolymer fibers, sand, clay, and mixtures thereof.

17. The filter of claim 1 , wherein the sum of the mesopore and macropore volume of said filter particles is greater than about 0.4 mL/g and less than about 1 mL/g.

18. The filter of claim 1 , wherein the total pore volume of said filter particles is greater than about 0.4 mL/g and less than about 2 mL/g.

19. The filter of claim 1 , wherein the pore volume is at least 0.03 mL/g for pore diameters between about 4 nm and about 6 nm.

20. The filter of claim 1 , wherein said filter has a Filter Bacteria Log Removal of greater than about 4 logs, and a Filter Viruses Log Removal of greater than about 2 logs.

21. The filter of claim 20 , wherein said filter has a Filter bacteria Log Removal of greater than about 6 logs, and a Filter Viruses Log Removal of greater than about 4 logs.

22. The filter of claim 1 , wherein said filter has a single-collector, efficiency, η, of greater than about 0.002.

23. The filter of claim 1 , wherein said filter particles are wood-based activated carbon particles having a Brunauer, Emmet, and Teller (BET) specific surface area between about 1,000 m 2 /g and about 2,000 m 2 /g, a total pore volume between about 0.8 mL/g and about 2 mL/g, and the sum of the mesopore and macropore volumes is between about 0.4 mL/g and about 1.5 mL/g.

24. The filter of claim 8 , wherein said filter particles are wood-based activated carbon particles having a Brunauer, Emmet, and Teller (BET) specific surface area between about 1,000 m 2 /g and about 2,000 m 2 /g, a total pore volume between about 0.8 mL/g and about 2 mL/g, and the sum of the mesopore and macropore volumes is between about 0.4 mL/g and about 1.5 mL/g.

25. The filter of claim 8 , wherein said plurality of filter particles has a point of zero charge greater than about 8, and an Oxidaton Reduction Potential less than about 400 mV.