Determination of Polyacrylamide in Soil Waters by Size Exclusion Chromatography

Abstract

Determination of polyacrylamide (PAM) concentration in soil waters is important in improving the efficiency of PAM application and understanding the environmental fate of applied PAM. In this study, concentrations of anionic PAM with high molecular weight in soil waters containing salts and dissolved organic matter (DOM) were determined quantitatively by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) with ultraviolet (UV) absorbance detection. Polyacrylamide was separated from interferential salts and DOM on a polymeric gel column eluted with an aqueous solution of 0.05 M KH2PO4 and then detected at a short UV wavelength of 195 nm. Analysis of PAM concentrations in soil sorption supernatants, soil leachates, and water samples from irrigation furrow streams showed that SEC is an effective approach for quantifying low concentrations (0-10 mg L(-1)) of PAM in waters containing soil DOM and salts. The method has a lower detection limit of 0.02 microg and a linear response range of 0.2 to 80 mg L(-1). Precision studies gave coefficients of variation of < 1.96% (n = 4) for > 10 mg L(-1) PAM and < 12% (n = 3) for 0.2 to 3 mg L(-1) PAM.

Polyacrylamide in Agriculture and Environmental Land Management

“…Several recent papers have explored other new techniques for PAM analysis and techniques for removal of PAM adsorbed to soil (Lu and Wu, 2001, 2002Lu et al, 2003). These PAM analytical techniques use size exclusion chromatography.…”

Competition between kaolinite flocculation and stabilization in divalent cation solutions dosed with anionic polyacrylamides

“…For example, extracellular polymeric substances enhance soil/sediment flocculation in rivers, lakes and estuaries (De Brouwer et al, 2002;Chen et al, 2005;Droppo et al, 2005;Lee et al, 2011). Anionic PAMs, which can be thought of as synthetic analogs of extracellular polymeric substances, have been used widely as flocculating agents to control soil erosion and sediment runoff from source sites and to remove suspended solids in water and wastewater treatment processes (Roa-Espinosa et al, 2000;Lentz et al, 2002;Lu et al, 2003;McLaughlin and Bartholomew, 2007;Sojka et al, 2007).…”

Preparation and application of silica-based perfusion packing of size exclusion chromatography for quantitation of polyacrylamide in enhanced oil recovery systems

“…The same TSK-Gel SEC column as used by Lu et al (2003) was used for our EOR system, in an attempt to transfer the corresponding protocol to our PAM solutions. This is 300x7.8 mID I.D, 30 em length; 13 urn particle size; mixed-bed with pore size ranging from 100 to 1,oooA; semi-rigid porous methacrylate-based polymer gel), made by the Tosoh Biosep Corp. (Montgomeryville, PA).…”