The College of Engineering at the University of Baghdad witnessed the public defense of the master’s student Hassan Yassin Taha from the Department of Chemical Engineering for his thesis entitled “Development and Comparative Evaluation of Sustainable PAM Hydrogel/Metal Oxide for Oil/Water Separation”, held on Wednesday, September 3, 2025, in Prof. Dr. Mahmoud Omar Hall in the Department of Chemical Engineering, under the supervision of Asst. Prof. Dr. Omar Sabbar Dahham.
This study focused on hydrogels reinforced with stainless steel mesh for separating oil from crude oil–water mixtures. Different amounts of water-soluble acrylamide (AM) polymers were polymerized to form AM hydrogels reinforced with acrylamide. A comparative study was conducted on polyacrylamide (PAM) concentrations coated on stainless steel mesh with AM hydrogels at concentrations of 40, 50, and 60, during oil–water separation performance testing.
For comparison, the stainless-steel mesh loaded with hydrogel was exposed to ultraviolet light (360 nm) for 80 minutes, which led to complete polymerization of the solution. This process began with the photo-crystallization of the liquid, transforming it into a photo-hydrogel. The effects of copolymer concentration on the separation efficiency of the hydrogels were also investigated.
The research concluded with several recommendations, including testing the performance of the prepared PAM hydrogel, using PAM–metal oxide membranes for the separation of other pollutants, and enhancing hydrogel efficiency by incorporating additional nanoparticles such as ZnO and MgO to improve separation performance. Furthermore, reusability and long-term stability tests were recommended to verify the durability and practical applicability of the hydrogel.
After the scientific discussion by the committee members, and following the defense and evaluation of the thesis, the student was awarded the Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering.
