Abstract
This research proposes the use of a novel hydrogel made from cellulose and sodium acrylate using the Interpenetrating Polymeric Network (IPN) approach for biodiesel dehydration process. In this work, some experimental conditions of the hydrogel production were investigated. Firstly, the immersion time of the cellulose hydrogel into the solution with the compost of the second network were evalueted. Then, the initiation mechanism (thermal or photoinitiation) and the use of a catalyst was analyzed. The concentration of monomer (sodium acrylate) and crosslinking (methylene bis-acrylamide) on the second network was evalueted in a tow-level factorial design. The swelling degree was used as the response at 95 % confidence. The best performance was achieved by the IPN hydrogel prepared by immersing the cellulose hydrogel in a solution with 1 mol.L-1 of AS and 0.03 mol.L-1 of MBA for 48 h and using a photoinitiation process in the absence of a catalyzer. In this condition, the IPN reached a swelling degree of 19 g.g-1, which is almost twice the value reached by the single-network cellulose hydrogel. In addition, the IPN hydrogel reduced about 42 % of the water concentration in the saturated biodiesel, achieving an efficiency value between those reached by the single-network hydrogel synthesized with cellulose (35 %) and sodium polyacrylate (56 %). Furthermore, the IPN may have improved mechanical resistance. Thus, this research demonstrates the potential to apply cellulose-sodium acrylate IPN hydrogel in biodiesel dewatering process, addressing the key point in the synthesis of this novel material.
