A comparative study on the effect of different reaction conditions on graft co-polymerization, swelling, and thermal properties of Gum ghatti-based hydrogels

This research paper deals with the comparative study of different reaction conditions i.e., in-air, under the influence of microwave radiations and under pressure on the thermal, physico-chemical and graft co-polymerization of acrylamide onto Gum ghatti-based hydrogels using potassium persulphate–ascorbic acid as a redox initiator and N,N′-methylene-bis-acrylamide as a crosslinking agent. Synthesized hydrogels were characterized using FT-IR, SEM, and XRD techniques. Thermal properties of the candidate polymers were examined using TG, DTA, and DTG studies. Moreover, swelling properties of the candidate polymers were studied in deionized water as a function of time, temperature, and pH of the swelling medium. Ionic strength and ionic charges of different cations have been found to have pronounced effect on the swelling capacity of the hydrogels. Swelling–deswelling–reswelling kinetics was studied in response to change in pH of the swelling medium. Moreover, the synthesized hydrogels were successfully utilized for the selective removal of saline from different petroleum fraction saline emulsions.