Due to the vast worldwide usage of synthetic polymers in industrial applications (such as wastewater treatment, oil recovery, erosion control and ore processing) concerns have been raised regarding the impact of the release of polymer particles on aquatic life forms. However current methods of tracking the spread of water soluble polymers through the environment have the drawback of being either chemically complex or they are not applicable to contaminants found in fresh water. Here a new detection method is outlined for the detection of specific polymer contaminants in fresh water systems using interpolymer complexation with a specifically synthesised poly(acrylic acid) fluorescence probe.Time resolved anisotropy shows clear evidence for interpolymer complex formation between poly(acrylamide) and the probe, detectible in concentrations as low as the 10-5wt% scale.Figure 1 � The restricted rotation of the polymer probe (???????? ,measured in nanoseconds) shows a clear linear response to the presence of poly(acrylamide) at ppm concentrations. The lower limit of detection is dependent on the concentration of polymer probe (PAA conc. 0.3 mg ml-1)This detection method was tested in a variety of fresh water situations and found to be useful against a range of other polymers, as well as poly(acrylamide). This method is remarkably fast and requires little sample modification compared to existing fluorescence methods of detection.

Determining polymeric contamination in industrial recycled water

248th National Meeting (2014)

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