Patent ID: 8268744

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a mercury sorbent material comprising: making a copper/clay mixture by admixing a dry clay and a dry copper source, making a sulfur/clay mixture by admixing a dry clay and a dry sulfur source, admixing the copper/clay mixture and the sulfur/clay mixture to form a mercury sorbent pre-mixture, inhibiting a reaction of the copper source and the sulfide source by the absence of free water therein, and then forming the mercury sorbent material by shearing the mercury sorbent pre-mixture; wherein the mercury sorbent material has an interlayer d(001)-spacing of less than 12 when the mercury sorbent material contains less than 4 wt % water, wherein a powder X-ray diffraction pattern of the mercury sorbent material is substantially free of a diffraction peak at 2.73±0.01 Å, and wherein the ζ-potential of the mercury sorbent material is greater than the ζ-potential of the dry clay.