Oil-absorbent materials from graft copolymer of bamboo fiber and alkyl acrylates

Abstract

Oil-absorbent polymers have been synthesized by graft polymerization of butyl acrylate (BA) and lauryl methacrylate (LMA) onto bamboo fiber (BF) using 2,2’- azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as initiator in the presence of divinyl benzene (DVB) as crosslinking agent. The graft copolymers have been characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The swelling cheracteristic of oil-absorbent materials have been studied in a function of the solvent polarity and temperature. It is found that when the temperature decreases, the oil absorption also decreases, and both the compatibility of the polymer chain with the organic solvents and the crosslinking density of the networked structure play a key role.