Patent ID: 7749394

Claim:
A method of providing portable water, comprising: (a) providing a filter comprising a housing having an inlet and an outlet and a filter material disposed within the housing, the filter material formed at least in part from a plurality of filter particles consisting of mesoporous activated carbon, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of filter particles is at least partially coated with silver or a silver-containing material, and wherein: (i) a sum of mesopore and macropore volumes of the 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) a total pore volume of the filter particles is greater than about 0.4 mL/g and less than about 3 mL/g, and (iii) a ratio of the sum of the mesopore and macropore volumes to the total pore volume of the filter particles is greater than about 0.3; (b) passing water through the filter; and (c) removing bacteria and viruses from the water with the filter at a level of Filter Bacteria Log Removal of greater than about 2 logs and a Filter Viruses Log Removal of greater than about 1 log.