Hydrolysis of polyvinyl acetate into polyvinyl alcohol
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Date
2019-06
Authors
Sherrine A/P Aruldass
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Abstract
Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a resemblance of natural polymers which are biodegradable, water soluble and environmental friendly with vast application in various industries. To enhance the demand for development and usage of PVA, this study explores the effect of various operating parameters such as reaction temperature, reaction time, catalyst ratio and stirrer speed on the degree of hydrolysis of PVA. Hydrolysis of polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) was carried out in the presence of alkali catalyst, sodium hydroxide, NaOH along with methanol as a solvent at reaction temperature in the range of 35−70℃ and for a reaction time in the range of 20- 60 minutes. Effects of catalyst ratio (0.04-0.08) and stirrer speed (350-1200 rpm) were also studied and correlated to the degree of hydrolysis of PVA. Then, the synthesized PVA product were characterized by using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis, Energy Dispersive X-Ray (EDX) analysis, Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis. Both the temperature and reaction time increases as the degree of hydrolysis increases. The degree of hydrolysis increases with increasing of catalyst ratio at constant time and temperature (40 minutes and 70℃). The solubility of PVA in water was greatly influenced by the degree of hydrolysis of PVA. PVA with higher degree of hydrolysis up to 91.61% have higher tendency for solubility properties in water. However, beyond the value, the water solubility decreased.