Abstract:
The lowcost superabsorbent hydrogel for agriculture and forestry was manufactured by taking the pulverized Eupatorium adenophorum as raw material that was degreased by benzeneethanol mixture. The results showed that the hydrogel with optimal absorbency was obtained under the conditions that the weight ratio of AA/AM graft copolymerization to dry pulverized raw material as 11∶1, the neutralization degree of AA as 45%, the weight ratio of initiator to raw material as 0015∶1.000, the weight ratio of crosslinker to two monomers as 0004∶1.000, the reaction was taken place at 60 ℃ for 5 h. The maximum saturated swelling degree of the hydrogel was 931 g/g in deionized water and 337 g/g in 09% NaCl solution. The evidence of graft copolymerization was determined by using FT-IR spectroscopy, and the surface morphology of the PAA/PAM hydrogel product was characterized by SEM.