Competitive adsorption of water‐soluble polymers on attapulgite clay

The individual, competitive, and displacement adsorption of polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH), hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), and hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose (HPMC) in aqueous solution onto an attapulgite clay has been systematically studied. For the individual adsorption experiments, the amount of polymer adsorbed at equilibrium decreased in the order PVOH, HEC, HPMC. In the competitive adsorption experiments, the adsorption level of each polymer is diminished by the presence of a competing polymeric species. Binary mixtures of a cellulosic polymer (HEC or HPMC) with PVOH result in a substantial reduction in the amount of cellulosic polymer adsorbed. In the displacement adsorption studies, the sequential addition of HEC or HPMC is not able to displace previously adsorbed PVOH molecules to any appreciable extent. However, the addition of PVOH to previously equilibrated HEC/clay or HPMC/clay suspensions results in a large amount of the adsorbed cellulosic polymer being displaced by PVOH, especially under conditions of high surface coverage. These results indicate that PVOH is preferentially adsorbed on the clay surface and the strength of attachment to the surface is greater for PVOH than for either cellulosic polymer.