Amine polymers having dewatering activity

Claim 1

A water-soluble amine polymer comprising: a water-conditioned condensation product of a nitrile polymer with from 1 to 20 molar equivalents of an aminating agent per molar equivalent of nitrile groups in the nitrile polymer, and from at least about 1 weight percent of a sulfur activator which is measured by the proportion of contained sulfur present in the activator relative to the weight of the nitrile polymer, wherein, the nitrile polymer is selected from polyacrylonitrile having an average molecular weight within a range of from about 150 thousand to about 5 million or a copolymer having an average molecular weight within a range of from about 50 thousand to about 3 million which is composed of at least about 30 mole percent acrylonitrile monomer with the remainder being an ethylenically unsaturated comonomer selected from acrylic acid, alkyl acrylate, methacrylic acid, alkyl methacrylate, methacrylonitrile, acrylamide, N,N-dialkylacrylamide, methacrylamide, N,N-dialkylmethacrylamide, alkyl vinyl ketone, styrene, and alkyl crotonate, each alkyl substituent being from one to four carbon atoms in length, the aminating agent is a mixture of about 30 to about 70 mole percent N,N-(di-n-alkyl)-1,omega-n-alkanediamine and about 70 to about 30 mole percent ethylenediamine, each alkyl group being 1 to 5 carbons in length and the n-alkane group being 2 to 6 carbons in length, and the sulfur activator is selected from sulfur, hydrogen sulfide, carbon disulfide, mercaptoacetic acid, thoacetic acid or thioacetamide.