JP2007277563A - Polyacrylamide and method of producing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of producing a high quality polyacrylamide. <P>SOLUTION: The method of producing the plyacrylamide comprises polymerizing acrylamide using an acrylamide aqueous solution containing 0.1-100 mg of a saccharide in 1 l of the acrylamide aqueous solution and having an acrylamide content of 40-60 mass% as a raw material. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a high-quality polyacrylamide and a method for producing the same.

  Acrylamide polymers are used in many fields such as polymer flocculants, papermaking agents, soil conditioners, oil recovery agents, drilling mud thickeners, polymer absorbers and the like. For use in these applications, characteristics such as a very high molecular weight and a small amount of water-insoluble matter when the polymer is dissolved in water are required.

  As a method for obtaining such an acrylamide polymer having a high molecular weight and good solubility, a method using a chain transfer agent for preventing the formation of an abnormal high molecular weight polymer or a substance having an effect for preventing crosslinking during drying. Although various proposals have been made, it is considered that the quality depends on the quality of acrylamide. For example, this can be seen from the fact that various methods for removing impurities such as acrolein and oxazole in the production of acrylamide have been proposed, such as JP-A-8-157439 and JP-A-10-7638.

  However, no examples have been reported so far in which the effects of saccharides on the physical properties of acrylamide polymers have been studied.

  The method for producing acrylamide has been conventionally produced from acrylonitrile using reduced copper as a catalyst. Recently, a method using a microbial enzyme instead of a copper catalyst has been developed and put into practical use. The method using a microbial enzyme is very effective as an industrial production method because the reaction conditions are mild and there are almost no by-products, and a very simple process can be assembled.

  In addition, acrylamide produced using a microbial enzyme may have a very high molecular weight and can produce high-quality polyacrylamide free from insoluble impurities (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-118704). Has become the main process.

  Acrylamide is a highly toxic substance designated as a deleterious substance. In general, a higher-concentration polymer is formed by using a high-concentration acrylamide aqueous solution, and a high-viscosity polyacrylamide aqueous solution is obtained. In recent years, it is desirable to reduce the amount of acrylamide used to produce polyacrylamide used in various industries because of concern for environmental issues and energy issues, and polyacrylamide with high viscosity from low concentration acrylamide. There is a growing demand for manufacturing. That is, the subject of this invention is providing the acrylamide solution which can manufacture the polyacrylamide which shows higher viscosity from the acrylamide solution of a low concentration, and the polyacrylamide manufactured from such an acrylamide solution.

  As a result of intensive studies to overcome the above problems, the present inventors have produced polyacrylamide using an acrylamide aqueous solution containing a saccharide as a raw material, compared with a polyacrylamide obtained from an acrylamide aqueous solution having an equal concentration not containing a saccharide. It has been found that a polyacrylamide aqueous solution having a higher viscosity can be obtained, and the present invention has been completed.

That is, the present invention includes the following:
(1) A method for producing polyacrylamide by performing acrylamide polymerization using an acrylamide aqueous solution containing 0.1 to 100 mg of saccharide per liter of acrylamide aqueous solution and having an acrylamide content of 40 to 60% by mass as a raw material;
(2) The method according to (1) above, wherein the aqueous acrylamide solution contains 1.0 to 50 mg of saccharide per liter;
(3) The method according to (1) above, wherein the acrylamide aqueous solution contains 3.0 to 19 mg of saccharide per liter;
(4) The method according to any one of (1) to (3) above, wherein the acrylamide aqueous solution is obtained by adding a saccharide-containing solution prepared from a microorganism to the acrylamide aqueous solution.
(5) The method according to (4) above, wherein the microorganism expresses a nitrile hydratase enzyme;
(6) The method according to (5) above, wherein the microorganism is a Rhodococcus bacterium;
(7) The method according to (6) above, wherein the Rhodococcus bacterium is Rhodococcus rhodochrous;
(8) The method according to any one of (1) to (7) above, which is produced by a biocatalyst having nitrile hydratase activity;
(9) The method according to any one of (1) to (8) above, wherein the acrylamide aqueous solution is produced using a biocatalyst having nitrile hydratase activity and containing a saccharide;
(10) Polyacrylamide produced by the method according to any one of (1) to (9) above.

  According to the present invention, a high-performance polyacrylamide having excellent physical properties can be provided by using a high-quality acrylamide aqueous solution and a low-concentration and high-performance polyacrylamide solution as raw materials.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail.
The acrylamide aqueous solution referred to in the present invention is an aqueous solution containing 40 to 60% by mass, preferably 50% by mass, of acrylamide. By adding a polymerization initiator such as ammonium persulfate to the acrylamide aqueous solution, the acrylamide is polymerized to form a polyacrylamide aqueous solution.

  The saccharides referred to in the present invention are saccharides that can be detected by the phenol-sulfuric acid method, and are monosaccharides, polysaccharides, and mixtures thereof that produce furfural and furfural derivatives with sulfuric acid. In polysaccharides, sugars such as glycoproteins and glycolipids are used. Complexes are also included. The saccharide may be produced by a method using a biocatalyst such as an enzyme or a chemical synthesis method, and may be produced by a living organism or separated from a biological material.

  In the present invention, “a saccharide-containing liquid using an organism” refers to a liquid containing a saccharide produced by an organism. Examples of the saccharide-containing liquid prepared using the organism include, for example, the centrifugal supernatant itself of a suspension of an organism such as a microorganism cultured in vitro, or a solution prepared from the centrifugal supernatant by a purification operation or the like. An acrylamide aqueous solution containing the saccharide-containing liquid of the present invention can be obtained by adding a saccharide-containing liquid prepared from a living organism to the acrylamide aqueous solution. In this case, when the concentration of the saccharide produced by the organism is low, the concentration of the saccharide in the acrylamide aqueous solution can be adjusted by appropriately adding the saccharide.

  The organisms described in this specification include all living organisms such as isolated animals, plants, microorganisms, and cells isolated from animals or plants, and established cell lines derived from animals or plants. Isolated microorganisms, and these organelles. These organisms may be those existing in nature, or may be artificially modified by genetic engineering.

  The concentration of saccharides referred to in the present invention is indicated by a glucose conversion value measured by the phenol-sulfuric acid method. The phenol sulfuric acid method is described in detail in, for example, “Basic Biochemical Experimental Method”, Volume 5, page 118, edited by Japanese Biochemical Society. That is, it is a value obtained based on a calibration curve created by glucose concentration and absorbance using glucose. The phenol sulfuric acid method referred to in the present specification was carried out in accordance with the above-mentioned “Basic Biochemical Experimental Method”, Volume 5, page 118, edited by the Japanese Biochemical Society, and the details thereof are shown below.

  (1) A 5 mass% phenol aqueous solution is prepared using special grade phenol and distilled water. (2) Collect 1 mL of the sample solution in a test tube with a diameter of 16.5 mm, add 1 mL of the solution of (1) to it, and mix well. (3) To this, immediately add 5 mL of special grade concentrated sulfuric acid, and shake while mixing for 10 minutes. (4) After standing at room temperature for 20 minutes, the absorbance at 490 nm is measured. Using this absorbance value and a calibration curve created using glucose, the glucose equivalent concentration of the saccharide in the sample solution is calculated.

  In the present invention, the lower limit of the sugar concentration in the acrylamide aqueous solution is preferably 0.1 mg / L or more in the acrylamide aqueous solution, more preferably 1 mg / L or more, and particularly preferably 3 mg / L or more. The upper limit is preferably 100 mg / L or less, more preferably 50 mg / L or less, and particularly preferably 19 mg / L or less. The sugar concentration is preferably high from the viewpoint of sufficiently exerting the effect of improving the viscosity, and is preferably low from the viewpoint of production cost.

  The biocatalyst having nitrile hydratase activity of the present invention includes organisms and their treated products that naturally or artificially contain nitrile hydratase enzyme activity, and the nitrile hydratase enzyme itself. In this case, the organism is preferably a microorganism. Examples of microorganisms that can express the nitrile hydratase enzyme include, for example, the genus Bacillus, the genus Bacteridium, the genus Micrococcus, the genus Brevibacterium, the genus Corynebacterium, and the genus Corynebacterium. Examples include microorganisms such as Nocardia, Pseudomonas, Rhodococcus, and Microbacterium, Rhodococcusrhodochrous, and Rhodococcus.

  In addition, in recent years, natural or artificially improved nitrile hydratase genes that have been artificially incorporated and expressed, or nitrile hydratase enzymes isolated from these organisms (purified or crudely purified) may be used. Can also be used in the present invention.

  Examples of organisms and processed products thereof include organisms that have been washed or treated with chemicals as necessary and their crushed materials, and those that have been immobilized by a comprehensive method, a crosslinking method, a carrier binding method, or the like. It is done.

  The “biocatalyst” in the present specification refers to a biocatalyst system in which a living organism such as the above-described microorganism, or a suspension containing the living organism or a processed product thereof, or a carrier on which this is immobilized is immersed in a liquid. Is also included.

  By using a biocatalyst having nitrile hydrase activity, it is not necessary to use reduced copper as a catalyst, the reaction conditions are mild, there are few by-products, and acrylamide can be produced on an industrial scale with a very simple process. Can be manufactured.

  The “acrylamide aqueous solution containing 1 to 100 mg of saccharide per liter of acrylamide aqueous solution” of the present invention can be produced as follows.

  The acrylamide aqueous solution can be obtained by dissolving 500 g of acrylamide in 1 L using distilled water and adding an aqueous solution of saccharides such that the glucose-converted saccharide concentration is 1 to 100 mg per 1 L of acrylamide aqueous solution by the phenol-sulfuric acid method. At this time, the amount of acrylamide to be dissolved may be changed within the range of 400 to 600 g, and the acrylamide content of the finally obtained aqueous solution may be 40 to 60% by weight. The saccharide added here may be either purified or unpurified. The acrylamide to be used may be a commercially available product, or may be prepared by purifying or not purifying an acrylamide aqueous solution produced from acrylonitrile using a biocatalyst so that the acrylamide concentration is 40 to 60% by weight. .

  Moreover, when manufacturing the acrylamide aqueous solution containing the said saccharides from acrylonitrile using a biocatalyst, the density | concentration of the saccharide in a biocatalyst is measured, and the density | concentration will be 1-100 mg per liter of acrylamide aqueous solution after completion | finish of reaction. It is also possible to add a biocatalyst to acrylonitrile and bring it into contact with the biocatalyst for reaction. Here, the saccharide in the biocatalyst refers to a saccharide in a liquid in which a biocatalyst such as a microorganism is suspended or in a liquid in which a biocatalyst immobilized on a carrier is immersed. More specifically, it can be obtained by bringing a raw material acrylonitrile, water, and a biocatalyst containing sugars into contact at 0 to 90 ° C., preferably 5 to 50 ° C., in a reaction vessel. If necessary, it is also possible to add a drug having a polymerization-inhibiting action, a drug contributing to improving the stability of the catalyst, or the like to the reaction solution or the biocatalyst suspension. The reaction mode may be any of a fixed bed, a moving bed, a fluidized bed, a stirring tank, etc., and may be a batch reaction or a continuous reaction. Alternatively, an aqueous saccharide solution may be added to the reaction tank so that the glucose-converted saccharide concentration is 1 to 100 mg per liter of the acrylamide aqueous solution after completion of the reaction by the phenol sulfuric acid method, and the biocatalyst and acrylonitrile are reacted in the reaction tank. Good.

  Furthermore, it is also possible to produce a saccharide simultaneously with the production of acrylamide on a biocatalyst having nitrile hydratase activity that can produce a saccharide.

  The acrylamide aqueous solution thus obtained can be subjected to a purification step depending on its use. Examples of the purification method include filtration with a filter (Japanese Patent Publication No. 05-49273), purification with bubbles (Japanese Patent Application No. 11-254151), and the like.

  Using the acrylamide aqueous solution thus obtained as a raw material, a polyacrylamide aqueous solution can be obtained by a method similar to a known acrylamide polymerization method. Thus, the viscosity of the polyacrylamide aqueous solution obtained from the acrylamide aqueous solution of the present invention is higher than that of the polyacrylamide aqueous solution obtained from the acrylamide aqueous solution containing no saccharide having the same acrylamide concentration. The polyacrylamide aqueous solution can be used as an acrylamide polymer for polymer flocculants, papermaking chemicals, soil conditioners, oil recovery chemicals, drilling mud thickeners, polymer absorbers, and the like. Therefore, the polyacrylamide polymer obtained from the acrylamide aqueous solution of the present invention is also included in the scope of the present invention.

  The physical properties of the obtained polyacrylamide aqueous solution can be evaluated, for example, by measuring the viscosity of the polymer using a viscometer. Specifically, it can be evaluated by measuring by a known method using a B-type viscometer.

  The present invention includes (1) an acrylamide aqueous solution containing saccharides, (2) an acrylamide aqueous solution containing 0.1 to 100 mg of saccharides per liter of acrylamide aqueous solution, (3) an acrylamide aqueous solution containing 1.0 to 50 mg of saccharides per liter of acrylamide aqueous solution, 4) The saccharide according to any one of 1 to 4 above, wherein an acrylamide aqueous solution containing 3.0 to 19 mg of saccharide per liter of the acrylamide aqueous solution and (5) a saccharide-containing liquid prepared using an organism cultured in vitro are added. (6) An acrylamide aqueous solution containing the saccharide according to 5 above, wherein the organism expresses a nitrile hydratase enzyme, and (7) A microorganism that expresses the nitrile hydratase enzyme is a microorganism. (8) the microorganism is Rhodococcus bacterium, An acrylamide aqueous solution containing the saccharide according to 7 above, (9) an acrylamide aqueous solution containing the saccharide according to 8 above, wherein the Rhodococcus bacterium is Rhodococcus rhodochrous, and (10) a biocatalyst having nitrile hydratase activity. An acrylamide aqueous solution containing the saccharide according to any one of 1 to 9 above, (11) an acrylamide aqueous solution containing the saccharide according to any one of 1 to 10 above, wherein the polyacrylamide is obtained from the acrylamide aqueous solution. An acrylamide polymer containing saccharides, which is higher than the viscosity of a polymer obtained from an acrylamide aqueous solution in which only acrylamide is dissolved in water so that the viscosity of the acrylamide solution is equal to that of the aqueous acrylamide solution, (12) 1 to 11 above An acrylamide aqueous solution containing the saccharide according to any one of And (13) a method for producing an aqueous solution of acrylamide containing saccharides, comprising producing acrylamide using a biocatalyst having nitrile hydratase activity and containing saccharides.

  The present invention will be specifically described by the following examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

  In the case of polyacrylamide prepared from a commercially available acrylamide aqueous solution in Example 1 and Comparative Example 1, the case of polyacrylamide prepared from acrylamide produced using a biocatalyst containing saccharides from acrylonitrile in Example 2 and Comparative Example 2. Described.

[Example 1]
(Preparation of saccharide-containing liquid)
Rhodococcus rhodochrous J1 (accession number FERM BP-1478, Biotechnology Institute of Industrial Technology, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology 6), a medium (pH 7) containing 2% glucose, 1% urea, 0.5% peptone, 0.3% yeast extract, 0.05% cobalt chloride (both mass%). 0.0) and aerobically cultured at 30 ° C. Using a polysulfone membrane filter (manufactured by Kuraray Co., Ltd.) having a pore size of 0.1 μm, this was continuously washed with 5 times the amount of 50 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.0). The cells were concentrated to 10% by dry cell weight to obtain a cell suspension.
This was taken in a 50 mL centrifuge tube and centrifuged at 15,000 × g for 30 minutes with a centrifuge, and the centrifuged supernatant was used as a saccharide-containing solution.

(Measurement of sugar concentration in sugar-containing liquid)
The sugar concentration in the obtained saccharide-containing liquid was measured by the phenol sulfuric acid method as follows.
(1) A 5% by mass phenol aqueous solution was prepared using special grade phenol and distilled water. (2) Into a test tube having a diameter of 16.5 mm, 1 mL of the 1000-fold diluted solution was sampled, and 1 mL of the solution (1) was added thereto and mixed well. (3) To this, 5 mL of special grade concentrated sulfuric acid was quickly added, shaken while mixing for 10 minutes, and allowed to stand at room temperature for 20 minutes, and then the absorbance at 490 nm was measured. On the other hand, a calibration curve was prepared using a glucose aqueous solution adjusted to 2, 10, 50, and 100 mg / L in the same manner, and the sugar concentration in the saccharide-containing solution was calculated from the calibration curve, which was 15000 mg / L. It was. The saccharide in the saccharide-containing liquid is not limited by theory, but is presumed to be a polysaccharide produced by cells.

(Preparation of saccharide-containing acrylamide aqueous solution)
A saccharide-containing acrylamide aqueous solution was prepared by adding 0.2 mL of the prepared saccharide-containing liquid to 1 L of a 50 mass% acrylamide aqueous solution (manufactured by Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd.).

(Preparation of polyacrylamide aqueous solution)
The obtained saccharide-containing acrylamide aqueous solution was diluted with distilled water so that the concentration of acrylamide was 15% by mass, adjusted to pH 6.1, and then the flask was kept warm with stirring in a 30 ° C. water bath. While replacing the gas phase with nitrogen, ammonium persulfate and sodium hydrogen sulfite were added to give 180 mg / L each, and the polymerization was started. At the same time, the temperature of the water bath was raised to 80 ° C. After about 1 hour, the mixture was ice-cooled to 25 ° C.

(Physical property evaluation of polyacrylamide aqueous solution)
The viscosity of the obtained aqueous solution was measured with a B-type viscometer (No. 4 rotor, 6 rpm, 25 ° C.). The results are shown in Table 1.

[Comparative Example 1]
The polyacrylamide aqueous solution was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 using a 50 mass% acrylamide aqueous solution (Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd.) to which no saccharide-containing solution was added, and the resulting polyacrylamide aqueous solution was evaluated. The results are shown in Table 1.

[Example 2]
(Reaction from acrylonitrile to acrylamide by microbial enzyme)
3130 g of 0.2 g / L sodium acrylate aqueous solution was placed in a jacketed separable flask having an internal volume of 5 L, and 10 g of the bacterial cell suspension obtained in Example 1 (preparation of saccharide-containing liquid) About 10,000 mg / L) was added. Two flat stirring blades having a blade length of 120 mm and a blade width of 20 mm were stirred at 80 rpm while controlling the pH at 7.0 and a temperature of 20 ° C. Acrylonitrile (manufactured by Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd.) is continuously fed so that the acrylonitrile concentration is always 2% by mass. When the acrylamide concentration reaches 47%, the acrylonitrile feed is stopped, and then acrylonitrile is 0.005%. The reaction was continued until: From this solution, the cells were separated with a polyethylene hollow fiber membrane (Mitsubishi Rayon Stellapore-H) having a pore size of 0.1 μm to obtain 5 kg of a reaction solution having an acrylamide concentration of 50 mass%.

(Measurement of sugar concentration in 50% by mass acrylamide)
In the same manner as in Example 1 (Measurement of sugar concentration in saccharide-containing liquid), the sugar concentration of the obtained 50 mass% acrylamide aqueous solution was measured. However, when converting into the glucose concentration, a solution obtained by dissolving a known amount of glucose in a 50% by mass acrylamide aqueous solution prepared with a commercially available acrylamide powder (manufactured by Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd.) was used. As a result, the sugar concentration was 19 mg / L.

(Physical property evaluation of polyacrylamide aqueous solution)
Using the obtained aqueous acrylamide solution, a polyacrylamide aqueous solution was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 and its physical properties were measured.
As a result, the solution viscosity was 190,000 mPa · s.

Claims (10)

  A method for producing polyacrylamide by performing acrylamide polymerization using an acrylamide aqueous solution containing 0.1 to 100 mg of saccharide per liter of acrylamide aqueous solution and having an acrylamide content of 40 to 60% by mass as a raw material.   The method according to claim 1, wherein the acrylamide aqueous solution contains 1.0 to 50 mg of saccharide per liter.   The method according to claim 1, wherein the aqueous acrylamide solution contains 3.0 to 19 mg of saccharide per liter.   The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the acrylamide aqueous solution is obtained by adding a saccharide-containing solution prepared from a microorganism to an acrylamide aqueous solution.   The method according to claim 4, wherein the microorganism expresses a nitrile hydratase enzyme.   The method according to claim 5, wherein the microorganism is a Rhodococcus bacterium.   The method according to claim 6, wherein the Rhodococcus bacterium is Rhodococcus rhodochrous.   The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, which is produced by a biocatalyst having nitrile hydratase activity.   The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the acrylamide aqueous solution is produced using a biocatalyst having nitrile hydratase activity and containing a saccharide.   The polyacrylamide manufactured by the method of any one of Claims 1-9.