Water absorption, retention and the swelling characteristics of cassava starch grafted with polyacrylic acid.

An important application of starch grafted with copolymers from unsaturated organic acids is the use as water absorbent. Although much research has been published in recent years, the kinetics of water absorption and the swelling behavior of starch based superabsorbents are relatively unexplored. Also, water retention under mechanical strain is usually not reported. Cassava starch was used since it has considerable economic potential in Asia. The gelatinized starch was grafted with acrylic acid and Fenton's initiator and crosslinked with N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide (MBAM). Besides a good initial absorption capacity, the product could retain up to 63 g H2O/g under severe suction. The material thus combines a good absorption capacity with sufficient gel strength. The mathematical analysis of the absorption kinetics shows that at conditions of practical interest, the rate of water penetration into the gel is determined by polymer chain relaxations and not by osmotic driven diffusion.

Graft copolymerization of acrylic acid to cassava starch--evaluation of the influences of process parameters by an experimental design method.

The graft copolymerization of cassava starch with acrylic acid was investigated using a free radical initiator system (Fe(2+)/H(2)O(2) redox system) in water. A comprehensive understanding of the important variables and their interaction has been obtained by applying an experimental design method. In this approach, two ('high' and 'low') values of selected variables are considered. Important result parameters are add-on and the grafting efficiency. Out of eight reaction variables, it was found that only temperature, starch concentration and the starch to monomer ratio have a pronounced influence on these response parameters. Moderate reaction temperature (40 °C) and high starch concentration (10%) give relatively good results of add-on and grafting efficiency. A low starch to monomer ratio favors add-on but decreases grafting efficiency. These findings can be used to optimize the production of cassava starch-acrylate copolymers and to gain insight in the process-product property interactions, for various applications.

Experimental and kinetic modelling studies on the acid-catalysed hydrolysis of the water hyacinth plant to levulinic acid.

A comprehensive experimental and modelling study on the acid-catalysed hydrolysis of the water hyacinth plant (Eichhornia crassipes) to optimise the yield of levulinic acid (LA) is reported (T=150-175 degrees CH2SO4 = 0.1-1M, water hyacinth intake=1-5wt%). At high acid concentrations (>0.5M), LA was the major organic acid whereas at low acid concentrations (<0.1M) and high initial intakes of water hyacinth, the formation of propionic acid instead of LA was favoured. The highest yield of LA was 53mol% (35wt%) based on the amount of C6-sugars in the water hyacinth (T=175 degrees CH2SO4 =1M , water hyacinth intake=1wt%). The LA yield as a function of the process conditions was modelled using a kinetic model originally developed for the acid-catalysed hydrolysis of cellulose and good agreement between the experimental and modelled data was obtained.

Smoothed particle hydrodynamics model for phase separating fluid mixtures. I. General equations.

We present a thermodynamically consistent discrete fluid particle model for the simulation of a recently proposed set of hydrodynamic equations for a phase separating van der Waals fluid mixture [P. Español and C.A.P. Thieulot, J. Chem. Phys. 118, 9109 (2003)]. The discrete model is formulated by following a discretization procedure given by the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method within the thermodynamically consistent general equation for the nonequilibrium reversible-irreversible coupling (GENERIC) framework. Each fluid particle carries information on the mass, momentum, energy, and the mass fraction of the different components. The discrete model allows one to simulate nonisothermal dynamic evolution of phase separating fluids with surface tension effects while respecting the first and second laws of thermodynamics exactly.

Smoothed particle hydrodynamics model for phase separating fluid mixtures. II. Diffusion in a binary mixture.

A previously formulated smoothed particle hydrodynamics model for a phase separating mixture is tested for the case when viscous processes are negligible and only mass and energy diffusive processes take place. We restrict ourselves to the case of a binary mixture that can exhibit liquid-liquid phase separation. The thermodynamic consistency of the model is assessed and the potential of the model to study complex pattern formation in the presence of various thermal boundaries is illustrated.