The first superabsorbent polymers or SAPs were developed and patented in the 1970s by the United States Department of Agriculture and consisted of starch-grafted polyacrylonitrile and were abbreviated as (starch-g-PAN).
The application of these pioneering polymers was for water storage in the soil, either from rain or irrigation in plantations, but due to difficulties in synthesis on an industrial scale and due to their high cost of manufacture, they were abandoned. Other cheaper SAPs were developed after that, mainly from the polymerization of acrylic acid with crosslinking agents such as diacrylate and ethylene glycol triacrylate. The main application of these new SAPs is no longer agricultural and has been directed to personal hygiene uses, mainly in the manufacture of articles such as disposable diapers and sanitary napkins.
This technology that initially generated the first SAPs, mainly due to the depletion of water resources on the planet at the beginning of the 21st century, made them viable again in agriculture and its use is increasing, especially in countries with water scarcity for food production.
Currently, SAP research for agricultural use is very promising and numerous products are being researched in research centers around the world, especially those that use raw materials obtained from renewable resources such as cellulose, lignin, starch, chitosan, alginates, amino acids and clay-minerals.
The Granado Institute, aligned with the reality of the 21st century, considering that about 70% of the fresh water used in the world is destined for agriculture, combined with the fact that there’s a large availability of acrylic waste, mainly in the form of fibers – with a production of 2 million tons / year -, has focused its research in the development of a sustainable and clean technology for the use of this waste. These researches are consolidated in SAPs of the HIDROSILO brand, which are the first in the world to be produced from the recycling of industrial waste and acrylic textiles. The environment thanks you!