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Article: Super Slurper - two decades and still growing. (superabsorbent-fertilizer mats)
- Article from:
- Agricultural Research
- Article date:
- January 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 U.S. Government Printing Office. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Super Slurper, the absorbent material that swells as it gels, is having a birthday. The starch-based product born in 1973 from research at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research (NCAUR) in Peoria, Illinois, is now 20 years old.
Patented in 1976 by ARS chemists William M. Doane, George F. Fanta, Edward B. Bagley, and Mary Ollidene Weaver, now retired, the technology involves grafting a natural polymer in cornstarch to a synthetic one made from petroleum.
The scientific name--saponified starch-graft polyacrylonitrile copolymers--was deemed too cumbersome for informal use so the name "Super Slurper" was coined.
Super Slurper ...