Environ. Sci. Technol. 1998, 32, 2474-2479
Monitoring Soil Column Mobility of Cross-Linked and Soluble Polyacrylates Using Gel Permeation Chromatography THOMAS M. SACK* AND JAY WILNER Midwest Research Institute, 425 Volker Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri 64110-2299 SERGIO S. CUTIE ´ The Dow Chemical Company, Midland, Michigan 48667 ALAN R. BLANCHETTE Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products Worldwide, 199 Grandview Road, Skillman, New Jersey 08558-9418 BRADLEY N. JOHNSON The Procter & Gamble Company, 6100 Center Hill Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45224
The potential fate of polymeric materials in soils is important to environmental safety. This study validated highperformance gel permeation chromatography (HPGPC) to assess elution behavior of a commercially available, crosslinked, high molecular weight polyacrylate absorbent (PA) and a soluble low molecular mass (4500 Da), linear poly(acrylic acid) (LPA) in three types of columns prepared from sandy and loamy soils. HPGPC was used to monitor the elution of the soluble PA and LPA from the columns. The LPA represents the fraction (