Super water-absorbent resins were prepared by inverse suspension copolymerization of sodium acrylate, acrylamide and 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate using N, N'-methylene-bis-acrylamide as cross-linker. For the suspension copolymerization, monohexadecyl phosphate was employed as the dispersing agent, cyclohexane as the dispersing medium and potassium persulfate as the initiator. The dependence of water-absorption capacity on the amount of crosslinking agent, oil/water ratio, degree of neutralization and the composition of the copolymer were systematically investigated. Furthermore, the swelling kinetics of the super water-absorbent copolymer was carried out. The absorption of the resins is more than 1800 g/g for deionized water and 100 g/g for 0.9% NaCl solution, respectively. The copolymers showed an increased salt resistance and enhanced water retention of soil.

Keywords: sodium acrylate; acrylamide; 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate; inverse suspension polymerization; salt-resistance; super water-absorbent resin