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Would super absorbent polymers dissolve in HCL

  • 18-05-2014 11:48pm
    #1
    Labarbapostiza
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 963 ✭✭✭


    Would super absorbent polymers dissolve in HCL?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superabsorbent_polymer

    What I'm curious about, is if swallowed, would they break down quickly and produce toxic by-products, or would they break down very slowly.


Comments

  • #2
    swd2006
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1 ✭swd2006


    Super absorbent polymers would / may degrade over time in HCL of concentrated strength.
    However in an acid solution the SAP would not absorb an acid fluid of under a pH of 3.5.
    One would convert all the carboxyl units back into the free acid form. Absorbency is a bell type curve with the greatest absorbency around 7 to 7.5 and lower absorbency at 3.5 or at a high pH of 11.0

    Depending upon the composition of the absorbent polymer the degrading effects will be different. There are many compositions of super absorbent polymer, some with an acrylic acid backbone, some with an acrylic acid + acrylamide backbone, some with a starch + acrylic+ acylamide backbone. Some can be made from algae or other natural compounds but all will have the carboxyls units in a neutralized salt form in order to act as a super absorbent polymer.


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