Abstract
Polyacrylamide (PAM) is one of the widely used flocculant of cement-based materials, and its degradation products are potentially toxic to the environment. However, few studies have explored the degradation and leakage behavior. Here, these experiments on the total organic carbon, 1H nuclear magnetic resonance, infrared spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry were carried out to insight into this behavior. The results show that the leakage ratio of PAM from cement paste decreases with the extension of cement hydration time. This flocculant exhibits degradation behavior, the molecular weight of leaked PAM decreases and its amide group and carboxyl group reduce with the prolongation of hydration time. The degradation products of PAM in cement after 70 d contain a variety of small molecular weight organic compounds, such as aldehydes, alcohols, phenols and esters. PAM can definitely degrade and leak from cement-based materials, and the degradation products may contain potentially toxic organics, thus the PAM potential environmental pollution cannot be ignored.
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Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial supports provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51878400 and 52178227).
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Linan Gu: Writing – original draft, Review & editing, Conduct experiments, Drawing of the diagram. Jingjing Feng: Review & editing, Funding Support.
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Highlights
• It firstly reports the leakage and degradation behavior of PAM in cement-based materials.
• Leakage ratio and degradation process of PAM from the cement paste were investigated.
• Leakage ratio, molecular weight, -NH2 and -COO- groups of PAM leaked from cement paste.
• Degradation products contain small molecular weight organic compounds with potential toxicity.
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Gu, L., Feng, J. Insight Into the Leakage and Degradation Behavior of Polyacrylamide in Cement-Based Materials. Water Air Soil Pollut 235, 329 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-024-07124-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-024-07124-2