CA1090553A

CA1090553A - Method of improving the absorption rate of absorbent polymers

Info

Publication number: CA1090553A
Application number: CA273,430A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Albert R. Reid
Original assignee: Hercules LLC
Current assignee: Hercules LLC
Priority date: 1976-03-25
Filing date: 1977-03-08
Publication date: 1980-12-02
Also published as: FR2345470A1; ES457170A1; BR7701839A; BE851907A; JPS6136974B2; AU510406B2; SE418088B; US4051086A; NL175626B; AU2357177A; GB1540818A; SE7703112L; JPS52117393A; NL175626C; DE2712043A1; FR2345470B1; IT1075747B; NL7703225A

Abstract

Abstract of the Disclosure Water-absorbent crosslinked polymers are improved in their wicking capacity by treatment of their surfaces with glyoxal. The polymer can be a polysaccharide-acrylamide graft copolymer or a polymer or copolymer of acrylamide and/or sodium acrylate or sodium methacrylate.

Description

l~SS3 A R. Reid Case 6 This invention relates to the preparation of water-insoluble, highly absorbent synthetic polymers. Specifically, it relates to the preparation of such products based on polymers and copolymers of acrylamide.
U.S. patent No. 4,028,290 teaches the preparation of highly absorbent materials based on polysaccharide--polyacryl-amide graft copolymers. As taught in that patent, acrylamide, or preferably a mixture of acrylamide and a copolymerizable vinyl monomer such as sodium acrylate, is polymerized in the 10 presence of cellulose under the influence of a free radical catalyst system and in the presence of a divinyl crosslinker for the resultant polymer so that polymerization and crosslinking take place simultaneously. The product that results is princi-pally a crosslinked graft copolymer of cellulose and the acryl-amide copolymer. It is believed that there is also a portion of free (i.e., non-grafted) acrylamide polymer which is tightly bound via divinyl crosslinking to the graft copolymer or to the polysaccharide backbone and is not separable therefrom. Accord-ingly, the product is referred to simply as a graft copolymer.
20 The simultaneous grafting and crosslinking result in an almost totally insoluble mixture having a high absorbent capacity for water and saline solutions.
In evaluating the absorbent qualities of the grafted poly-saccharides, two characteristics are regarded as important. One is the total absorbent capacity of the material and the other is the rate at which the absorption takes place, i.e., the wicking ability of the material.
As is shown in the patent mentioned above, the cross-linked, grafted copolymer has quite good absorbency at a rela-30 tively low level of divinyl crosslinking. At lower crosslinkagelevels, however, the wicking ability of the product is not op-timum when the product is in powder or particulate form. In order to achieve better wicking with these powdered products, it is necessary to increase the amount of divinyl crosslinker up to about

- 2 -10% of the total graft copolymer. It is theorized that the materials of lowerwicking ability gel rapidly at the point of init~al contact of the aqueous solution with the surface of the polymer particle, thus reducing the rate at which the liquid can pass through the surface and into the interior of the absorbent mass.
According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a method of increasing the water or saline solution absorption rate of a water-insol-uble, crosslinked polymer selected from the class consisting of acrylamide homopolymer, copolymers of acrylamide and a second vinyl monomer copolymeri~
able therewith, homopolymers of sodium acrylate, homopolymers of sodium methacrylate, and polysaccharides grafted with copolymers of acrylamide and a second vinyl monomer copolymerizable therewith, which method comprises ap-plying to the surface of particles of said polymer about 0.2 to 5% by weight of glyoxal.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided an acrylic polymer selected from the class consisting of (a) homopolymers of water-soluble acrylic acid salts, (b) homopolymers of water-soluble methacry-lic acid salts, (c) homopolymers of acrylamide, (d) copolymers of acrylamide and one of the salts specified in (a) and (b) in any proportion, and (e) graft copolymers of a water-insoluble, water wettable polysaccharide, acryl-amide and a second vinyl polymer copolymerizable therewith, said acrylic poly-mer being crosslinked via a divinyl monomer and being in particulate form and having its particle surfaces treated with about 0.2 to 5% by weight of glyoxal.
It is known (U.S. patents 2,879,268 and 3,072,635) to treat water-soluble polysaccharides with glyoxal. This is done to facilitate the dissol-ution of these materials in water. This improvement is believed to come about because the glyoxal decreases the water sensitivity of the surface of the treated polysaccharide, thus dim;nishing the tendency of the surface toward geIling. While this is a similar mechanism to that proposed for the present invention, it is nonetheless surprising to find that the method is effective for the materials contemplated by this invention since, as will be demonstrat-ed hereinafter, the glyoxal treatment does not appear to be effective in im-proving the wicking of other crosslinked absorbent cellulose derivatives.
The crosslinked polyacrylamide polysaccharide graft copolymer to which one form of this invention is applicable is the product of SimUltane ly reacting acrylamide or methacrylamide and at least one other water-soluble vinyl monomer and a water-soluble divinyl monomer with the aid of a free radical catalyst system in the presence of a polysaccharide host material.
The preferred second monomers are acrylic acid or methacrylic acid and their alkali metal salts. Examples of still other monomers which can be used as the comonomer with acrylamide or methacrylamide are the -3a-. ~., 109~553 alkali metal salts of 2-acrylamido-2-methyl propane sulfonic acid, alkali metal salts of sulfopropylacrylic acid, 1,2-dimethyl-5-vinylpyridinium methyl sulfate and 2-methacryloyloxyethyl tri-methyl ammonium methyl sulfate.
The polyacrylamide--polysaccharide graft copolymer is cross-linked with a divinyl compound which polymerizes via the same free radical mechanism as is employed to polymerize the vinyl monomers mentioned above. The preferred crosslinker is methylene-bis-acrylamide (MBA). Other divinyl monomers which can be used for 10 crosslinking are methylene-bis-methacrylamide and quaternary compounds such as, e.g., quaternized 2,5-divinyl pyridine.
Various polysaccharide furnishes can be employed to pre-pare graft copolymers in particulate form to which the process of this invention is applicable. These include fibrous chemical cotton, fine-cut cotton, and wood pulps, activated polysacchar-ides such as oxidized cellulose and pre-irradiated celluloses and starches; hydrolyzed polysaccharides such as hydrocelluloses;
various types of starch such as corn, potato, wheat starches, as is, or pregelatinized; guar gum, and various water-insoluble 20 derivatives of cellulose, starch, and other polysaccharides such as carboxymethyl cellulose of D.S. 0.05 to 0.25 and hydroxyethyl cellulose of M.S. 0.05 to 0.25, and crosslinked hydroxyethyl cellulose of M.S. 0.3 to 3. Oxidized cellulose and regular cotton and wood pulps are preferred.
The preferred products for application of the invention contain from about 10 to 90% by weight, preferably 10 to 60% by weight, of the host polysaccharide and about 40 to 90% by weight of crosslinked acrylamide polymer. The acrylamide component will usually make up about 10 to 50% of the synthetic polymer portion.
30 Preferably, the host polysaccharide will be about 40 to 50% of the composition with the synthetic polymer being about 50 to 60%. Preferably the synthetic polymer portion will contain about 20 to 30% of the acrylamide component. Further the pre-ferred products contain about 0.2 to 2%, and preferably about 0.5 to 2%, based on the combined weight of monomers, 1~9(i553 of the divinyl crosslinking compound.
The crosslinked acrylamide and sodium acrylate polymerpowders which are not grafted to polysaccharide backbones, and to which the method of the invention is also applicable, are known commercial products which can be homopolymers of acrylamide, or homopolymers of ammonium or alkali metal salts of acrylic acid or methacrylic acid or, more preferably, copolymers of acrylamide or methacrylamide with acrylic or methacrylic acid salts in substant-ially any proportions. Also applicable are the products prepared 10 by acid or basic hydrolysis of crosslinked acrylamide or meth-acrylamide homopolymers to convert a portion of the amide groups-to the acid form or to the acid salt form. Yet another applicable polymer is acrylonitrile or methacrylonitrile homopolymer hydro-lyzed to give amide and acid groups.
To apply the glyoxal to the crosslinked polymer, the par-i ticulate polymer is first slurried in a nonsolvent such as, e.g., acetone. A dilute aqueous solution of glyoxal is added slowly to the slurry with stirring. The pH of the slurry is adjusted to about 5.5 to 6.0 and the stirring is continued for a time suffi-20 cient to allow the required amount of glyoxal to react with the !surface of the particle. The amount of glyoxal required is about 0.2 to 5% by weight based on the weight of polymer and preferably about 0.2 to 2%. The polymer is then removed from the slurry medium, washed with a nonsolvent and dried at an elevated temper-ature. The heat applied for drying appears to assist in develop-ing absorbency. A temperature of about 50 to 75~C. is preferred.
The absorbent products resulting from the practice of the invention can be used in a variety of applications where absorb-ency is a desideratum. In particular, they are useful in applica-30 tions such as feminine hygiene products, dental sponges, surgicalsponges and disposable diapers. Other applications are as moisture barriers, e.g., for underground cables and foundations of build-ings, for erosion control, and as soil conditioners.

Without wishing to be bound to or limited by any particul~ar lV5~(~5S3 theory regarding the mechanism by which the absorbency is improvedby following the method of this invention, it appears possible that a low level of surface crosslinking between glyoxal and poly-mer may be the reason.
The absorbent products can be used alone or in any of the above applications. However, for economic reasons, they can be blended with conventional absorbent cellulosics such as cross-linked carboxymethyl cellulose, chemical cotton, wood pulp or cotton staple. Relatively small amounts of the invention product 10 can effect relatively large increases in absorbency over that of the cellulosic absorbents alone.
The products are tested for absorbent capacity and wicking action by means of the so-called "CAP'I (capillary or wicking ac-tion) test. The apparatus employed for the CAP test consists of a Buchner fritted glass funnel, with a rubber tube attached to its neck; the tube is attached at the other end to a 50 ml. burette.
The burette is filled with the test solution, and the level of liquid is allowed to rise until it just makes contact with the bottom of the frit in the funnel. The level of liquid in the bur-20 ette can be anywhere from 0 to 60 cm. below the bottom of thisfrit. A one-gram test sample is placed on top of the frit and a weight exerting a pressure of from 0.1 to 0.4 p.s.i. is applied over the entire surface of the sample. The test is then begun, and the loss of fluid in the burette is monitored as a function of time to give the rate of absorption. When equilibrium is reached, the capacity is calculated by dividing the total fluid absorbed at equilibrium, or at the end of 45 minutes, by the weight of the polymer sample. The conditions used with the CAP test for this work are:
1) Pressure exerted on the sample was 0.11 p.s.i.

2) All of the tests were done with the liquid in the burette 2 cm. below the fritted glass initially. This level was allowed to change continuously as absorption occurred.

Example 1 Crosslinked oxidized cellulose-polyacrylamide araft copoly-- 1~90553 mer (51% polyacrylamide, 0.5% MBA crosslinker by weight) in fine particle form was slurried in acetone and an aqueous solution of glyoxal sufficient to contain 0.5% glyoxal based on weight of the graft copolymer was added dropwise to the stirred slurry. The pH
of the slurry was adjusted to between about 5.5 and 5.6 and stir-ring was continued for one hour at room temperature. Excess liquid was removed and the product was washed several times with acetone and dried at 60C. under reduced pressure.
The product and an untreated control (Control A) were 10 tested for absorption rate of 1% NaCl solution via the CAP test described hereinabove. In a 45 minute test, the glyoxal-treated material was several times superior to the untreated material.
Results are recorded in Table 1.
Example 2 The crosslinked grafted cellulose employed in Example 1 was treated with 2~ glyoxal via the same procedure and tested in the same manner. Again the results were significantly improved over the untreated control. Results are recorded in Table 1.
Example 3 A second crosslinked grafted cellulose prepared with unoxi-dized cellulose (50% polyacrylamide, 0.5% rlBA crosslinker) was treated with 0.5% glyoxal as described in Example 1. This material and an untreated control were subjected to the CAP test. The glyoxal-treated material was significantly better in rate of ab--sorption and absorption capacity. Results are recorded in Table 1.
Both the control and the glyoxal-treated material formed gels when slurried in water at 1% and even at 0.5% concentration, indicating no change in the total water absorption capacity of greater than 200 ml./g. of absorbent.
_ample 4 The following crosslinked grafted polysaccharides were treated with 2% glyoxal:

4a) Gelatinized wheat starch c~ntaining 52~ polyacrylamide graft which contained 0.5% MBA;

105~(~SS3 4b) Corn starch containing 53% polyacrylamide graft which contained 0.5% MBA;
; 4c) Guar gum containing 51% polyacrylamide graft which con-tained 0.5~ MBA.
Each of these was tested via the CAP test along with-its appropriate untreated control. In each case the glyoxal-treated material exhibited substantially better wicking action and absorp-tion capacity. Results are recorded in Table 1.

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Example 5 Granular particles of a copolymer of about 70% acrylamide units and 30% sodium acrylate units and crosslinked with about 0.5% ~BA were treated with 2% glyoxal as described in Example 1.
CAP test data for this material and its untreated control are re-corded in Table 2.
ExamPle 6 Example 5 was repeated with a copolymer of 30% acrylamide units and 70% sodium acrylate units crosslinked with 0.25% MBA.
10 CAP test data are recorded in Table 2.
Example 7 Example 5 was repeated with a copolymer of 30% acrylamide units and 70% sodium acrylate units crosslinked with 0.5% MBA.
This material was treated with 0.5% glyoxal. CAP test data are recorded in Table 2.
Example 8 Poly(sodium acrylate) crosslinked with 0.5% MBA and treated with 2% glyoxal was prepared as in Example 1 and tested for absorb-ency rate via the CAP test. Results are recorded in Table 2.
In each case, Examples 5 through 8, the product produced according to the invention i8 significantly better with respect to absorption capacity and rate of absorption than its untreated con-trol when evaluated via the CAP test.

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Example 9 To demonstrate the ineffectiveness of the invention with respect to other known crosslinked highly absorbent cellulose de-rivatives, a series of crosslinked carboxymethyl celluloses (CMC) were tested with and without glyoxal treatment. Glyoxal treatment was effected as taught hereinabove. Results are shown in Table 3.
As is very effectively demonstrated in Table 3, only the epichlorohydrin crosslinked CMC was improved even slightly by the glyoxal treatment. In that case the improvement was so slight 10 that it would not be commercially attractive. In other cases, no improvement or even a deterioration of wicking was observed.

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Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A method of increasing the water or saline solution ab-sorption rate of a water-insoluble, crosslinked polymer selected from the class consisting of acrylamide homopolymer, copolymers of acrylamide and a second vinyl monomer copolymerizable therewith, homopolymers of sodium acrylate, homopolymers of sodium methacryl-ate, and polysaccharides grafted with copolymers of acrylamide and a second vinyl monomer copolymerizable therewith, which method com-prises applying to the surface of particles of said polymer about 0.2 to 5% by weight of glyoxal.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the water-insoluble crosslinked polymer is cellulose having grafted thereto a copolymer of about 10 to 50% acrylamide and 50 to 90% sodium acrylate crosslinked with methylene-bis-acrylamide.

3. A method according to claim 1 wherein the water-insoluble crosslinked polymer is a copolymer of acrylamide and sodium acrylate crosslinked with methylene-bis-acrylamide.

4. A method of increasing the water or saline solution ab-sorption rate of a water-insoluble, crosslinked polymer selected from the class consisting of acrylamide homopolymer, copolymers of acrylamide and a second vinyl monomer copolymerizable therewith, homopolymers of sodium acrylate, homopolymers of sodium methacryl-ate, and polysaccharides grafted with copolymers of acrylamide and a second vinyl monomer copolymerizable therewith, which method com-prises forming a slurry of particles of the crosslinked polymer in a nonsolvent liquid, adding to said slurry glyoxal in an amount equal to about 0.2 to 2% by weight of the polymer, adjusting the pH of the slurry to about 5.5 to 5,6, removing the polymer from the slurry and drying at about 50 to 75°C. to remove residual slurrying liquid.

5. A method according to claim 4 wherein the water-insoluble crosslinked polymer is cellulose having grafted thereto a copolymer of about 10 to 50% acrylamide and 50 to 90% sodium acrylate crosslinked with methylene-bis-acrylamide.

6. A method according to claim 4 wherein the water-insoluble crosslinked polymer is a copolymer of acrylamide and sodium acrylate crosslinked with methylene-bis-acrylamide.

7. A method according to claim 4 wherein the water-insoluble crosslinked polymer is guar gum having grafted thereto a copolymer of about 10 to 50% acrylamide and 50 to 90% sodium acryl-ate crosslinked with methylene-bis-acrylamide.

8. A method according to claim 4 wherein the water-insoluble crosslinked polymer is starch having grafted thereto a copolymer of about 10 to 50% acrylamide and 50 to 90% sodium acryl-ate crosslinked with methylene-bis-acrylamide.

9. An acrylic polymer selected from the class consisting of (a) homopolymers of water-soluble acrylic acid salts, (b) homo-polymers of water-soluble methacrylic acid salts, (c) homopolymers of acrylamide, (d) copolymers of acrylamide and one of the salts specified in (a) and (b) in any proportion, and (e) graft copoly-mers of a water-insoluble, water wettable polysaccharide, acryl-amide and a second vinyl polymer copolymerizable therewith, said acrylic polymer being crosslinked via a divinyl monomer and being in particulate form and having its particle surfaces treated with about 0.2 to 5% by weight of glyoxal.

10. A graft copolymer of cellulose, acrylamide and an acrylic acid salt crosslinked via methylene bis-acrylamide and com-prising about 10 to 90% by weight of cellulose, said copolymer be-ing in particulate form and having its particle surfaces treated with about 0.2 to 2% by weight of glyoxal.

11. A copolymer of acrylamide and a water-soluble acrylic acid salt in any proportion, said copolymer being crosslinked via methylene bis-acrylamide, being in particulate form and having its particle surfaces treated with about 0.2 to 2% by weight of glyoxal.