Resumen
Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) is a biodegradable resemblance of natural polymers which is easily degraded by the biological organisms. PVA have established noteworthy applications in several industries. PVA is essentially synthesized via hydrolysis of Polyvinyl acetate (PVAc). The hydrolysis of PVAc takes place by replacement of acetate groups by the hydroxyl groups in the polymer chain by using an alkali catalyst. In this research, the effect of operating parameters; reaction time, reaction temperature, catalyst ratio, stirring speed and different type of catalyst on the degree of hydrolysis of PVAc to PVA was studied. Characterization of polyvinyl alcohol product under different operating condition were investigated and degree of hydrolysis on solubility of polyvinyl alcohol was investigated. 3g of PVAc was dissolved in 120 ml of methanol inside a 250 round bottom flask. After complete dissolution of PVAc, a solution of NaOH and methanol with 50:50 volume parts each was added to the solution.Then, the powder was precipitated, filtered and washed several times with methanol. The precipitate was then dried in an oven at 50?. It was observed that the degree of hydrolysis of PVA increases with increasing temperature and reaction time. This is because hydrolysis of PVAc in alkaline solution is an endothermic reaction. 96.06% of degree of hydrolysis (DH) obtained at 60 mins reaction time. The degree of hydrolysis increases as the catalyst ratio increases from 0.04 to 0.08 meanwhile increasing the stirrer speed beyond 1100 rpm does not increases the DH. The time taken for PVA to dissolve in water decreases with increasing degree of hydrolysis of PVA. SEM analysis confirmed the morphology of PVA and EDX analysis displayed huge content of carbon for all the PVA samples. The functional group of PVA sample are obtained by FTIR analysis. Lastly, the results obtained are in line with the findings in literature.