Particulate sorption medium prepared from partially decomposed organic matter

A process for the production from partially decomposed organic matter of a sorption media for use in the treatment of aqueous solutions to remove at least one type of aqueous contaminant, comprising the steps of:

• (a) supplying an amount of the partially decomposed organic matter to a granulating machine;
• (b) granulating the partially decomposed organic matter;
• (c) drying the granules;
• (d) thermally activating the granules without chemical activation using an activation heat medium at a temperature of about 175-287° C., wherein the granule has a Ball-Pan Hardness number of about 75%-100% and is suitable for sorption of the aqueous contaminant found in the aqueous solution;
• and
• (e) chemically treating the thermally-activated granule, comprising:
• (i) treatment of the granule with an acid solution to dissolve out the mineral form of at least one type of media contaminant naturally found in the partially decomposed organic matter starting material to place the mineral form of the media contaminant into the acid solution and onto the active sorption sites in the granule followed by separation of the acid solution containing the dissolved mineral form of the media contaminant from the granule;
• (ii) followed by treatment of the resulting acid-treated granule with a salt solution to displace the media contaminant off the active sorption sites in the granule and into the salt solution;
• (f) wherein the thermally-activated and chemically-treated granules can sorb the aqueous contaminant from the aqueous solution without introducing the media contaminant into the treated aqueous solution.