Crosslinked reactive macromonomers based on polyisobutylene and octadecyl acrylate copolymers as crude oil sorbers

Cinnamoyl chloride was condensed with different glycols to produce five different of hydroxyalkyloxy cinnamate esters. Each cinnamate ester was reacted with polyisobutylene-succinic anhydride adduct to produce five different reactive macromonomers. The synthesized macromonomers were characterized by FTIR and 1HNMR spectroscopic analyses. These macromonomers were copolymerized with octadecyl acrylate (ODA) at 1, 2 and 4 wt% of trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TPT) crosslinker in presence of benzoyl peroxide as initiator and cobalt octoate as activator. Copolymerization of a cinnamoyloxyethyl methacrylate (CEMA) with octadecyl acrylate (ODA) was prepared by bulk polymerization in presence of ABIN initiator and TPT crosslinker. The crosslinked copolymers were evaluated for oil-absorbency application. The effect of monomer feed composition; crosslinker wt% and type of oil on swelling properties of crosslinked polymers were studied through the oil absorption tests. The network parameters, such as polymer solvent interaction (χ), effective crosslink density (νe), equilibrium moduli of elasticity (GT), average molecular weight between crosslinks (Mc) and theoretical crosslink density (νt) were determined and correlated with the structure of the synthesized sorbers. The values of crosslinking efficiency (β) and the efficiency of copolymer to form physical crosslinks (α) are also computed and discussed.