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

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 (H-1 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 mu g, respectively.