Polymers polymeric adsorbents

Rohm and Flaas Company has developed Amberlite polymeric adsorbent resins that can be used to remove organic compounds from contaminated groundwater, aqueous wastes, and vapor-phase wastes. Amberlite XAD-4 is a crosslinked polystyrene-type polymer. It is hydrophobic and has no ionic functional groups incorporated into its resin structure. The material is most useful in removing low-molecular-weight organic substances from aqueous systems. Amberlite XAD-4 has been commercially available since the 1970s. 

The polymeric adsorbents are usually prepared by variations of two-phase suspension processes. These refer to systems where microdroplets of monomers and solvent are converted into solid beads upon polymerisation. In the case where the monomers are not water soluble, as in the case of styrene-based polymers and many methacrylate-based polymers, the monomers, a solvent and a droplet stabiliser are suspended as droplets by stirring in water and then polymerised (o/w suspension polymerisation). The particle size and dispersity can be influenced by the stirring speed and the type of stabiliser. So far, only a few examples of the preparation of imprinted polymers in bead format have been described [4-8] and these are thoroughly reviewed in Chapter 12. In non-covalent imprinting, the main limitation to the use of these techniques is that the imprinting method often requires the use of polar partly water soluble monomers or templates in combination with less polar water insoluble components. Use of the o/w suspension method... 

When an emulsifier is used, its type and concentration primarily affects the number of latex particles formed, which in turn determines the rate of polymerization and, depending also on the rate of initiation, the molecular weight of the polymer formed. Although the physical properties of the polymer are primarily dependent on its molecular waght and molecular weight distribution, the properties of the latex depend on its concentration, average particle size, particle size distribution, and the viscosity of the aqueous phase, which may be enhanced by addition of a thickener—a water-soluble polymer not adsorbed by the polymer phase which does not affect the course of the reaction,... 

The template-assisted synthetic strategies outlined above produce micro- or mesoporous stmetures in which amorphous or crystalline polymers can form around the organic template ligands (174). Another approach is the use of restricted spaces (eg, pores of membranes, cavities in zeolites, etc.) which direct the formation of functional nanomaterials within thek cavities, resulting in the production of ultrasmaU particles (or dots) and one-dimensional stmetures (or wkes) (178). For example, in the case of polypyrrole and poly(3-methylthiophene), a solution of monomer is separated from a ferric salt polymerization agent by a Nucleopore membrane (linear cylindrical pores with diameter as small as 30 nm) (179—181). Nascent polymer chains adsorb on the pore walls, yielding a thin polymer film which thickens with time to eventually yield a completely filled pore. De-encapsulation by dissolving the membrane in yields wkes wherein the polymer chains in the narrowest fibrils are preferentially oriented parallel to the cjlinder axes of the fibrils. 

In some circumstances the oil drops actually adhere to each other and are not readily redispersed. This occurs when the emulsifier is polymeric (e.g., protein, gum, or polyoxyethylene derivative). By one mechanism, different segments of a polymer molecule adsorb to the surfaces of two drops, thus forming a bridge that holds them together. Another mechanism obtains when polar parts of two polymer molecules (adsorbed to separate drops) approach each other and intertwine. This tangle, say of long polyoxyethylene chains, then holds the drops in proximity,... 

In addition to giving information about the shape and internal structure of colloidal aggregates, SANS studies can also be used profitably to determine the thickness and conformation of polymer layers adsorbed onto the surface of colloidal particles such as latex nanoparticles, and in some special cases, the surface of emulsion droplets. ° In such studies, the particles on which the polymer is adsorbed must generally be very accurately contrast matched to the solvent so as to allow information to be obtained only about the adsorbed layer. SANS studies have also been recently used in combination with differential scanning calorimetry and visual inspection of the solutions, to draw up a (simplified) partial phase diagram of the aggregation behavior of a polymeric surfactant in water.t ... 

Kunin, R. (1977). Polymeric adsorbents for treatment of waste effluents. Polym. Eng. Sci. 17, 58-62. 

Several surface-active foaming materials may be distinguished, including surfactants (ionic, nonionic and zwitterionic), polymers (polymeric surfactants), particles that accumulate at the air/solution interface, and specifically adsorbed cations or anions from inorganic salts. Many of these substances can cause foaming at extremely low concentrations (as low as 10 mol dm ). 

The effects of polymer molecular weight on the rate and extent of adsorption on carbon black at equilibrium is fundamentally no different from other polymeric adsorbate-adsorbent systems (95). When microporosity is present in carbon black, the adsorption is governed by the external surface area (96), but with very high molecular weight polymers adsorption is also limited by the inability of the molecular coils to penetrate the internal void space of the primary structure aggregates (95). 

Polymer films have been very widely applied to modify the surfaces of chemical sensors both for solution and gas phase measurements. Solution coating has been used to coat quartz crystal oscillators [91-93, 112] and SAW devices [113, 114] with various polymeric adsorbates and polymer/lipid mixtures [90, 94] to prepare arrays of sensors for use in gas sensing and odor evaluation and discrimination. 

Polymeric adsorbents The more extensively used polymeric adsorbents are styrene-divinylbenzene co-polymers, with a hydrophobic surface. With these adsorbents the limitations of linked silicas are overcome, for example, more stability at higher pH range. Their efficiency depends on particle size, surface area, porous diameter, porous volume, reticulation degree and distribution of particle size. 

With the increased level of understanding of the cyclization dynamics as monitored by intramolecular excimer fluorescence, it is now possible to extend this probe to the study of systems more complex than dilute solutions. One such situation involves the structure and dynamics of macromolecular complexes formed between polymeric proton donors and acceptors in aqueous solution. For example, there has been widespread interest in the complexes formed between poly(ethylene glycol) and poly(acrylic acid) or poly(methacrylic acid) in aqueous solution (34, 35). A second, complicated morphological problem is to describe the configurational behavior of polymer chains adsorbed on colloidal particles. This research has relevance to the understanding of steric stabilization. One system of particular interest is the interaction of poly(ethylene glycol) and colloidal silica (36-40). 

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