Salt tolerant super absorbents

摘要

The invention relates to a novel absorbent composition and manner of using the same. The absorbent has at least the following two components: (a) a swellable hydrophobic polymer being capable of absorbing a quantity of water which is at least about 10 times the dry weight of said polymer; and (b) an amount of an ionizable surfactant sufficient to form at least a monolayer of said surfactant about said polymer. The novel absorbent is substantially tolerant to an aqueous solution having a soluble salt, such as sodium chloride.