Facile Synthesis of Cyclic Polyamidine with High Cationic Degree Using Environmentally Benign Approach.

An environmentally benign approach was developed to fabricate cyclic polyamidine via polymerization in supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO2) and subsequently amidinization in water. Synthetic parameters were evaluated using response surface methodology. In comparison with aqueous solution polymerization for the fabrication of PNVF-co-PAN, polymerization using SCCO2 is favorable to promote the yield and viscosity of PNVF-co-PAN and diminished reaction time on account of excellent solvation capacity and transport property of SCCO2. Replacing the traditional water solution with SCCO2 as a green solvent could heighten the purity of PNVF-co-PAN by virtue of the excellent extraction of SCCO2. The cationic degree (5.66 mmol/g) of polyamidine fabricated by environmentally benign approach was significantly higher than that in previous reported studies.

Aluminum formate (AF): Synthesis, characterization and application in dye wastewater treatment.

Aluminum formate (AF), a degradable and non-corrosive coagulant, was synthesized from aluminum hydroxide and formic acid. Polyamidine (PA), as a coagulation aid, was combined with AF for dye wastewater treatment. AF was characterized by XPS, FT-IR, viscosity, zeta potential, mass spectrum and XRD, and the flocculation properties of the dual-coagulation system were characterized by FT-IR and SEM. The results showed that COOH, Al2O3-Al and O2-Al bonds were formed in the AF synthesis process, and AF had a higher molecular weight and higher charge neutralization ability than PAC. The hydrolysates of AF were determined to contain Al13 Al11 and Al2, and the components of AF were confirmed to comprise a mixture including aluminum formate (C3H3AlO6) and its hydrate. When the color removal efficiency reached 100% in jar tests, the optimized dosage of AF/PA was 18.91/0.71mg/L, while the optimized dosage of PAC/PA was 21.19/0.91mg/L. According to the variance analysis, the interaction between AF/PA and PAC/PA were insignificant in macroscopic view. FT-IR spectrum indicated AF captured pollutant by means of CCO bond, PAC captured pollutant by δ CH, CC and δ CH. Overall, although the coagulation mechanism of AF was different from that of PAC, AF/PA showed better coagulation efficiency than PAC/PA in dye wastewater treatment.

Novel cationic polyamidine: Synthesis, characterization, and sludge dewatering performance.

In this study, a new and facile route was employed for synthesis of polyamidine with abundant cations and attractive five-membered ringlike structural unit. N-vinylformamide and acrylonitrile copolymerized firstly to form intermediates, and the intermediates were processed with hydrochloric acid to produce polyamidine. A series of polymerization conditions (e.g. polymerization time, temperature and dosage of initiator) were optimized through productivity, viscosity and cationic degree as evaluation. SEM analysis illustrated that the amidinization process could reduce the size of spaces between molecular and created compact structure, which would contribute to good flocculation performance and high viscosity. FT-IR, XPS and NMR spectra presented a rather clear structure of polyamidine. 34.3% of sludge was sedimentated through the flocculation of polyamidine in the early stages. In contrast, only 6.8% of sludge was sedimentated by polyacrylamide. The moisture content in dehydrated floc could be reduced to 77.7% when 60mg/L polyamidine was added. These results demonstrated that the polyamidine showed a great potential in the practical application of sludge dewatering.