Spectrophotometric Determination of Substrate-Borne Polyacrylamide

Abstract

Polyacrylamides (PAMs) have wide application in many industries and in agriculture. Scientific research and industrial applications manifested a need for a method that can quantify substrate-borne PAM. The N-bromination method (a PAM analytical technique based on N-bromination of amide groups and spectrophotometric determination of the formed starch-triiodide complex), which was originally developed for determining PAM in aqueous solutions, was modified to quantify substrate-borne PAM. In the modified method, the quantity of substrate-borne PAM was converted to a concentration of starch-triiodide complex in aqueous solution that was then measured by spectrophotometry. The method sensitivity varied with substrates due to sorption of reagents and reaction intermediates on the substrates. Therefore, separate calibration for each substrate was required. Results from PAM samples in sand, cellulose, organic matter burnt soils, and clay minerals showed that this method had good accuracy and reproducibility. The PAM recoveries ranged from 95.8% to 103.7%, and the relative standard deviations (n = 4) were <7.5% in all cases. The optimum range of PAM in each sample is 10-80 microg. The technique can serve as an effective tool in improving PAM application and facilitating PAM-related research.

Biodegradation of partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide by bacteria isolated from production water after polymer flooding in an oil field

“…HPAM concentration was measured by the starch-cadmium iodine method [13]. The HPAM removal efficiency was calculated by the difference of the concentration value between the control and biodegraded sample divided by the concentration value of the control.…”

“…The results could also be interpreted as that CNM as a sole carbon and nitrogen source medium inhibits both bacterial growth and HPAM degradation. In this paper, HPAM concentration was measured by the starchcadmium iodine method [13], actually, starch-cadmium iodine method determines the change of amide group concentration in HPAM, but not the main carbon chain of HPAM. When bacteria grow in NM, HPAM serves as the sole nitrogen source.…”

Chemical Degradation of HPAM by Oxidization in Produced Water: Experimental Study

“…The concentration of HPAM is determined by using the starch-cadmium iodide spectrum analysis method (Lu and Wu, 2002). The concentration of HPAM is determined by using the starch-cadmium iodide spectrum analysis method (Lu and Wu, 2002).…”

Polyacrylamide Distribution in Columns of Organic Matter–Removed Soils following Surface Application

“…However, difficulties in the quantification of PAM on soil hinder the study of PAM movement. All the methods available in earlier literature are developed for determination of PAM in aqueous solutions (Lu and Wu, 2002). Since PAM is highly water soluble and irreversibly binds to soil by a multisegment sorption mechanism (Theng, 1982), it is almost impossible to extract PAM from the soil.…”

“…Any analytical methodology regarding soil‐sorbed PAM quantification should be able to detect PAM directly on the soil. Recently, the aqueous solution–based N‐bromination method (Lu and Wu, 2001) was modified to quantify substrate‐borne PAM (Lu and Wu, 2002), which makes it possible to measure the content of PAM retained in soil.…”