Adsorption is a separation process playing a fundamental role in several
industrial areas, being used in both purification and bulk separations.
The adsorbent used is the main parameter controlling the effectiveness
of the process. Emerging new separations and the improvement of existing
ones constitute the driving force for the development of new adsorbents
with improved adsorbing properties. With this objective, recent research
directions include the development of hybrid organic-inorganic and
combined adsorbents. These Combined and Hybrid Adsorbents have
progressively found their place, gaining importance for adsorptive
applications and, consequently, for economy. They encompass significant
scientific advances, pointing to the development of some directions of
modern technology in the near future. This is confirmed by the
impressive growth of the number of scientific publications dedicated to
the subject in the last few years. The progresses in the development of
these materials, the increased environmental and terrorism concerns, the
needs for the integration between science and technology and the new
analytical techniques available, enabling the complete characterization
of these new materials, led us to the organization of a Research
Workshop, aiming at making an up-to-date review of the latest
achievements and an exchange of ideas between people working in several
fields of this research area.