the reactive sites in the acid or alkali metal salt form the converted substrate is thereafter washed filtered and stored the product may optionally be dried but storage in a damp or wet state facilitates dispersion in the aqueous emulsion at the time of use the actual oil absorbing capacity of the instant products is of course a function of the number of lipophilic groups on the polymer the polymer however must also be sufficiently hydrophilic to permit separation and limited swelling of individual fibers this hydrophilicity is attributed to the ionic nature of the final product and the limited d s if the d s is excessive swelling is inhibited and the lipophilic groups are inaccessible to the oil the following examples are intended only to further illustrate the invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention which is defined by the claims ten grams dry weight basis of wheat straw which had been ground through a wiley mill with a 2 mm screen and washed with water was combined with 56 ml of 0 24 n sodium hydroxide and then held for 2 hours in an oven at 100 u00b0 c the reaction mass was diluted with 250 ml of water and stirred in a waring blender at high speed for 2 min the solid was separated by filtration washed with water and stored as a moist solid a portion of this material was tested as a control for oil absorbency twenty grams of this solid 4 1 g dry weight basis was stirred at room temperature for 2 hours with a solution of 2 5 g of ctab in 50 ml of water the product was thereafter recovered by filtration.