Flocculation characteristics and biodegradation studies of Gum ghatti based hydrogels

Biodegradable flocculants of Gum ghatti (Gg) with acrylamide (AAm) were prepared through graft co-polymerization technique using potassium persulphate (KPS)-ascorbic acid (ABC) redox pair as initiator and N,N'-methylene-bis-acrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinker. Gg-cl-poly(AAm) was found to exhibit pH and temperature responsive swelling behavior. Maximum flocculation efficiency of Gg-cl-poly(AAm) was observed with 15 mg L(-1) polymer dose in acidic medium at 50°C. Biodegradation studies of Gg and Gg-cl-poly(AAm) were done using composting method. Gg was found to degrade within 20 days, whereas, Gg-cl-poly(AAm) was found to degrade 88.18% within 60 days. Different stages of bio-degradation were characterized through FT-IR and SEM techniques.