Patent ID: 7960490

Claim:
A process for producing water-absorbing polymeric particles by polymerization of a monomer solution comprising a) at least one ethylenically unsaturated acid-functional monomer less than 55 mol % neutralized, b) at least one crosslinker, c) optionally one or more ethylenically and/or allylically unsaturated monomer copolymerizable with the monomers a), and d) optionally one or more water-soluble polymers, the monomer solution being polymerized and a polymeric obtained being dried by means of a heated gas stream, which comprises effecting the drying in two or more temperature zones for which gas inlet temperatures satisfy a condition T n greater than T n+a , where the indices n and a are each a whole number greater than 0, the gas inlet temperature in the temperature zone T n being less than 175° C. and a temperature difference of the gas inlet temperatures of the temperature zones T n and T n+a being more than 10° C.