TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - BIOLOGY - Preferred Materials: The biomass feedstock is corn cobs, wood products, olive pits, peach pits, coconut shells, or nut shells.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Properties: The pore volume of 10-50 Angstrom diameter pores is greater than 1.1 cc/g. The pore volume of 7.5-16.0 Angstrom diameter pores is greater than 0.5 cc/g. Preferred Composition: A water treatment adsorbent comprising the activated carbon further comprises greater than 2 wt.% metal. A battery comprising the activated carbon further comprises greater than 5 wt.% metal, preferably lithium, sodium, lead, cobalt, iron, and manganese. A catalyst comprising the activated carbon further comprises greater than 0.1 wt.% metal, preferably platinum, ruthenium, palladium, copper, chromium, cobalt, silver, gold, or vanadium. The char is produced from a blend comprising phosphoric acid and biomass in a mass ratio of 0.5:1-1:1 or a blend comprising metallic hydroxide and biomass in a mass ratio of 1:1-5:1. Preferred Materials: The alkaline material is a metallic hydroxide, preferably potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, lithium hydroxide, or beryllium hydroxide. Preferred Process: The activated carbon is pressed with a binder at 130-180degrees C at 13000-17000 psi to form a briquette. The briquette is heated at 600-1200degrees C. EXAMPLE - An activated carbon was prepared by mixing dried crushed corn cobs with 0.516% concentrated phosphoric acid in an acid/feed weight ratio of 0.8 and soaking at 45degrees C. The soaked corn cobs were carbonized at constant temperature of 450degrees C for 1 hour in nitrogen atmosphere to form a char. The char was washed with water to remove excess acid. The char was mixed with potassium hydroxide flakes in a base/char weight ratio of 4. Activation was performed at 790degrees C for 1 hour. The activated carbon had Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of 3173 m2/g, density functional theory (DFT) surface area of 2153 m2/g for less than 360 Angstrom , DFT surface area of 543 m2/g for less than 7.5 Angstrom , porosity of 0.81, apparent density of 0.38 g/cc, pore volume of 0.24 cc/g for 3-10 Angstrom diameter pores, pore volume of 0.46 cc/g for 7.5-16 Angstrom diameter pores, pore volume of 0.62 cc/g for 10-20 Angstrom diameter pores, pore volume of 1.42 cc/g for 10-50 Angstrom diameter pores, and 78.5% pores of less than 50 Angstrom .