Abstract
Hydrophobically modified polyacrylamide (PAAm) was prepared by grafting PAAm with block copolymer of poly(ethylene oxide) and poly(propylene oxide), PEO-PPO-PEO, by melt method in the presence of benzoyl peroxide as initiator. The chemical structure of the graft copolymer was determined by FTIR and (HNMR)-H-1 analyses. The surface tension, critical micelle concentration, and surface activities were determined at different temperatures. Surface parameters such as surface excess concentration (Gamma(max)), the area per molecule at interface (A(min)), and the effectiveness of surface tension reduction (Pi(CMC)) were determined at different temperatures from the adsorption isotherms of the prepared surfactants. The prepared surfactant was tested as emulsifier for water with xylene, cyclohexane, or petroleum crude oil synthetic emulsions. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.