Detection of the Butyl Acrylate–Vinyl Acetate (BA–VA) Copolymer in Soil Binders Using Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)

Abstract

Dust palliatives are commonly used when airborne dust is problematic. Dry soils are treated with a mixture of polymers, such as butyl acrylate vinyl acetate (BA–VA), emulsified in water. Eventual spread through surface runoff or leaching may transport palliative away from the application area. This paper reports a novel method developed for the determination of BA–VA using gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H NMR) to provide qualitative and quantitative measurements allowing further investigation of polymer-based soil palliatives. The results showed that the average specific refractive index increments (dn/dc) for BA–VA copolymer in two dust palliatives were 0.055 and 0.038 mL/g. The masses of extracted BA–VA were 1400 and 2900 mg from these products. The corresponding limits of quantification (LOQ) for the extracted BA–VA polymer using a refractive index (RI) detector were 11.63 and 17.04 µg, respectively.

Keywords:

• Butyl acrylate–vinyl acetate (BA–VA) copolymer
• gel permeation chromatography (GPC)
• nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the United States Geological Survey and Bureau of Land Management, Southern Nevada District Office for the support of this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.