Novel flocculating agent based on sodium alginate and acrylamide

Graft copolymers of sodium alginate with polyacrylamide were synthesized us ing a eerie ion initiated solution polymerization technique at 27 +/- 1 deg rees C. Six graft copolymers have been synthesized with a variation in the number and length of grafted polyacrylamide chains. The graft copolymers ha ve been characterized by viscometry, IR spectroscopy, SEM and XRD study. Th eir flocculation characteristics were evaluated in 0.25 wt% kaolin and 10 w t% iron ore suspensions. The flocculation behaviour of one of the above gra des has been studied on a I wt% coal suspension. The flocculation character istics of these grafted polymers were also compared with various commercial ly available polymeric flocculants. Among the grafted alginates, it was obs erved that, the graft copolymers containing longer polyacrylamide chains we re the most efficient. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.