Eco-friendly alginate-starch-based water super-absorbent beads spherically shaped and uniformly fabricated via spherification and radiation-assisted polymerization

Abstract

This research focuses on developing a new method to fabricate water super-absorbent polymer (SAP) beads via spherification and radiation-assisted polymerization. The effects of parameters such as pH, concentration of monomer, presence of cassava starch as well as radiation dose on gel fraction and swelling ratio were investigated to determine an optimum condition. Chemical and physical properties of the prepared SAP beads were characterized using FTIR, TGA, SEM and UTM. Results showed that SAP beads can be successfully formulated in uniform size and shape. Swelling ratio of the fabricated SAP beads was approximately 360 g/g of their original dry weight. The formed SAP beads can undergo re-swelling for more than 5 cycles, while simultaneously being capable of maintaining their swelling ratio.

Keywords

• alginate
• starch
• bead
• spherification
• super absorbent polymer
• radiation-assisted polymerization