Emulsion copolymerization of n-Butyl acrylate with modified glucose

Abstract

In the present work an emulsion copolymerization of n-butyl acrylate monomer and secondary renewable monomer derived from glucose is presented. The latter component offers to this study a plus of sustainability, considering that it is a renewable material. The study also considers the price factor of renewable monomer and to determine best price/performance ratio. The content of the renewable monomer in the final product could be from 10% to 30% of the total monomer amount. The study is focused on reaching a stable product with appropriate adhesive properties. There are several factors that affect the properties of the final product. For this reason the variation of the quantity of the substances that participate in the reaction and variable chemical and process parameters are being studied. In any case, the final product is compound of two before mentioned monomers, two types of emulsifiers (one anionic that stabilizes the monomer droplets by electrostatic repulsion and other non-ionic that provides steric stabilization), an stabilizer of the reaction from the family of polyvinyl alcohol, sodium carbonate and a water soluble initiator (ammonium persulfate). The process that has been chosen for this study is semi-batch, being that it offers a better control of the reaction temperature since the copolymerization reactions between the aforementioned monomers is highly exothermic. The reactor is initially charged with the monomers, emulsifiers, initiator and water. The rest of n-BA monomer is added to the reactor during a period of time of 100 minutes. Nitrogen is also used in this process in order to remove the oxygen that could affect the initiation phase. During the reaction is in line monitored by IR spectroscopy, which allows visualising the reduction of the carbon-carbon double bonds and the appearance of single ones. Attention is also focused on the evaluation of the particles size distribution of the final product, which has to be close to 1 μm. Basic adhesive properties of different formulations are also tested.