Preparation of poly(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid)-grafted gum and its flocculation and biodegradation studies

Biodegradation studies of Gum ghatti (Gg) and acrylamide-co-acrylic acid based flocculants [Gg-cl-poly(AAm-co-AA)] have been reported using the soil composting method. Gg-cl-poly(AAm-co-AA) was found to degrade 89.76% within 60 days. The progress of biodegradation at each stage was monitored through FT-IR and SEM. Polymer was synthesized under pressure using potassium persulphate-ascorbic acid as a redox initiator and N,N′-methylene-bis-acrylamide as a crosslinker. Synthesized polymer was found to show pH, temperature and ionic strength of the cations dependent swelling behavior. Gg-cl-poly(AAm-co-AA) was utilized for the selective absorption of saline from different petroleum fraction-saline emulsions. The flocculation efficiency of the polymer was studied as a function of polymer dose, temperature and pH of the solution. Gg-cl-poly(AAm-co-AA) showed maximum flocculation efficiency with 20 mol L−1 polymer dose in acidic medium at 50 °C.