A Method for the measurement of divalent cations in solutions of carboxymethylcellulose

The purpose of this research was to develop a method that would quantify the divalent cations in aqueous solutions of sodium carboxymethylcellulose. The technique employed for the elemental analysis was Inductively Coupled Plasma Emission Spectroscopy (ICP). It was found using multiple filtrations, through filters of different pore sizes, that the polymer could be removed from solution thus allowing the remaining cation concentration to be determined. The data obtained suggest that ICP ES allows precise determination of Magnesium, Calcium, or Strontium concentrations for CMC solutions of varying ionic strengths. The method was then used to look for trends between the percent of cations remaining in solution and viscosity. In addition, JR data that may suggest the possibility of polymer cross-linking was obtained