Mechanical degradation of polysaccharide guar gum under turbulent flow

Polysaccharide guar gum (GG), one of the most widely used biopolymers for food applications is examined as a turbulent drag reducer, of which it reduces friction drag tremendously under a turbulent flow even though only tiny amount of guar gum is dissolved in aqueous system. Mechanical degradation of the GG is specifically being investigated in this study under a turbulent flow, in which three different molecular weights of GG were prepared using ultrasonication. Drag reduction effectiveness of the GG was measured using a rotating disk apparatus as a function of time. In order to correlate time-dependent drag reduction and mechanical degradation of GG, two different degradation models of a single-relaxation process and a stretched-exponential model were examined, and the stretched-exponential model was found to fit the experimental data better.     

Cotton linter nano-fibers as the potential reinforcing agent for guar gum

Cotton linter nano-fibers (CLNFs) were prepared from cotton linters by a refining process. The prepared CLNFs were characterized for morphology, crystallinity and degree of polymerization. CLNF was used as a reinforcing agent in guar gum to improve its performance properties. Guar gum/CLNF nanocomposite films were prepared by a solution-casting process. CLNF was added in concentrations of 0.1, 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 % (w/w) in guar gum. The prepared guar gum/CLNF nano-composite films were characterized for mechanical, thermal, rheological, crystallinity, water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) and light transparency properties. The enthalpy of melting and melting temperature of guar gum increased with increased concentration of CLNF; but up to 0.25 % (w/w) concentration, above which they started decreasing. Tensile strength and Young’s modulus of guar gum increased by 32 and 35 %, respectively, by 0.25 % (w/w) addition of CLNF; however, it decreased on further increase in the concentration of CLNF. The percentage elongation at break and WVTR decreased by 58 and 57 % for 0.25 % (w/w) CLNF-added guar gum. The observed improvements in the properties were due to better interaction between CLNF and guar gum. CLNF was found to have uniformly dispersed in guar gum on addition up to 0.25 % concentration; however, it started forming aggregates at higher concentration, as evident from scanning electron microscopy. Viscosity increased, whereas transparency decreased with increased concentration of CLNF in guar gum.     

Studies on graft copolymerization of 4‐vinylpyridine onto guar gum

Graft copolymerization of 4‐vinylpyridine (4‐VP) onto guar gum (GOH) using potassium monopersulfate (PMS)/thioacetamide (TAA) as a redox pair was studied in an aqueous medium under inert atmosphere. The concentration of potassium monopersulfate and thioacetamide should be 1.0 × 10^?2 and 5.0 × 10^?3 mol dm^?3, respectively, for highest grafting ratio and efficiency. Efficient grafting was observed at 19.25 × 10^?2 and 4.87 × 10^?2 mol dm^?3 concentration of 4‐vinylpyridine and sulfuric acid, respectively. The optimum temperature for grafting is 30°C. As the time period of reaction is increased, the grafting ratio increases, whereas efficiency decreases. The plausible mechanism of grafting has been suggested. A sample of guar gum and guar‐ g‐4‐vinylpyridine were subjected to thermogravimetric analysis with the objective of studying the effect of grafting 4‐vinylpyridine on the thermal stability of guar gum. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 84: 2380–2385, 2002     

Influence of additives on the fabric stiffness and colour depth of viscose printed with a guar gum thickener and a reactive dye

The effect of additives in a printing paste containing guar gum thickener and bireactive dye for cellulose printing was studied. The efficiency of the additives with respect to their chemical structure and concentration and the efficiency in combination with thickeners of different types (nonsubstituted, different degrees of carboxymethylation) and different concentrations (solid content) was investigated by assessing the fabric stiffness, colour depth, dye penetration, the viscosity and viscoelasticity of the printing paste and the printing paste add-on. Some additives caused a decrease in the fabric stiffness to an acceptable degree with little effect on the colour depth. Dye penetration was found to be exclusively additive-dependent. Spectroscopic and rheological investigations confirmed the reduction of dye/guar gum interactions due to the occurrence of additive/guar gum and additive/dye interactions. The best quality prints were obtained using a printing past containing a nonionic surfactant and a highly carboxymethylated guar gum thickener.     

减阻型纳米流体在圆管内的流动和换热特性

实验测定了在Reynolds数4000～16000范围内,质量分数0～0.5%的石墨、多壁碳纳米管、Al₂O₃、Cu、Al、Fe₂O₃、Zn纳米粒子加入到100～400 mg·kg^-1浓度的十六烷基三甲基氯化铵(CTAC)减阻剂中所制备的减阻型纳米流体的摩擦阻力系数和对流传热系数。结果表明:在CTAC中加入水杨酸钠(NaSal)与去离子水所配制的减阻剂具有一定的稳定性和很强的减阻特性,当减阻剂浓度为200 mg·kg^-1时其减阻特性最优。石墨纳米粒子在增强对流换热和减少流动阻力方面具有较佳的综合性能,当石墨纳米颗粒质量分数为0.4%时,其综合性能因子K是去离子水的5倍。最后给出了减阻型石墨纳米流体在圆管内的流动阻力和换热关联式,其计算值和实验值吻合良好。     

Biodegradable drag reducing agents and flocculants based on polysaccharides: Materials and applications

Organic and inorganic flocculants are used in treatment of water and industrial effluents. Polymeric flocculants, synthetic as well as natural, because of their natural inertness to PH changes, low dosage, and easy handling, have become very popular in industrial effluent treatment. It has been established in the authors' laboratory that by grafting polyacrylamide branches on rigid backbone of polysaccharides, the dangling grafted chains have easy approachability to contaminants in effluents. Thus grafted polysaccharides are very efficient, shear stable and biodegradable flocculants. They also exhibit turbulent drag reducing characteristics. Among grafted guar gum, xanthan gum, carboxymethyl cellulose, and starch, grafted starch performs the best. Starch consists of amylose (a low molecular weight linear polymer) and amylopectin (a high molecular weight, branched polymer). The grafted amylopectin is found to be the best flocculant for various kinds of industrial effluents, providing credibility to the above‐cited model. In the present paper, the details about grafted polysaccharides as turbulent drag reducers and flocculants are given, along with their applications.     

瓜尔胶/丙烯酰胺的反相乳液接枝共聚

以硝酸铈铵/硝酸为引发剂,在反相乳液中引发瓜尔胶/丙烯酰胺的接枝共聚反应。考察了m(丙烯酰胺AM)∶m(瓜尔胶GG)、引发剂浓度、反应温度和反应时间对接枝聚合的影响。结果表明,当m(AM)∶m(GG)=3∶2,引发剂浓度为4 mmol/L,反应时间为4 h,反应温度为45℃时,接枝共聚反应的接枝率和单体转化率分别为147.05%和87.7%。接枝共聚物的最大相对分子质量(简称分子量,下同)可达到1.73×106。红外光谱(IR)分析证明了AM确实接枝到GG分子链上,热重分析(TGA)显示接枝的AM单体并未影响GG的热稳定性。     

Polymerization of fluoroacrylate and guar gum copolymer as a new pretreatment paste for ink‐jet printing of polyester

A novel pretreatment paste containing fluoroacrylate copolymer and modified Guar Gum was carried out on the polyester fabric to provide partial water repellency and printability after inkjet printed with water‐based disperse dye inks. The stable fluorinated pastes were prepared via miniemulsion polymerization of fluoroalkyl acrylates, styrene, 2‐ethylhexyl acrylate, and modified guar gum in the presence of AIBN as initiator, CTAB and polyoxyethylene polyaryl ether as surfactants under suitable reaction conditions. In the analysis of monomer conversion and particle size, the highest polymerization rate with smallest particle size was obtained with increasing concentration of surfactants and initiator but the decreasing degree of substitution of guar gum to imply stronger interactions between fluoroacrylate monomers, hydroxyl groups of modified guar gum and EO units of nonionic surfactants. The 30% of stock fluorinated paste with urea concentration of 6% provided the prints with highest K/S value, satisfactory edge acuity and least color difference between front and back sides of the fabric to show more transparency. The rating 80 of water repellency tested on the best treated polyester fabric demonstrated stain proof properties after sprayed with water and dried. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

瓜尔胶的化学改性

简要介绍了瓜尔胶的结构及其化学改性的原理和方法;综述了国内外瓜尔胶化学改性的研究工作;详细介绍了非离子瓜尔胶、阳离子瓜尔胶、阴离子瓜尔胶、羟烷基阴离子瓜尔胶和羟烷基阳离子瓜尔胶以及两性瓜尔胶的合成方法。瓜尔胶通过改性改善了水溶性、大大降低了水不溶物的含量、提高了电解质的兼容性、增加了黏度的稳定性、从而扩大了瓜尔胶的应用领域,使得改性瓜尔胶广泛应用于化妆品、个人护理品、造纸、油田和增稠剂等众多领域。     

Synthesis and characterization of graft copolymer (guar gum–g–N‐vinyl‐2‐pyrrolidone) and investigation of metal ion sorption and swelling behavior

Graft copolymer of N‐vinyl‐2‐pyrrolidone with guar gum was synthesized and its reaction conditions were optimized for better yield using potassium peroxymonosulfate (PMS) and glycolic acid (GA) as a redox initiator. The effect of PMS, GA, hydrogen ions, guar gum, and N‐vinyl‐2‐pyrrolidone (NVP) along with reaction time and temperature were studied by determining the grafting parameters: grafting ratio, efficiency, conversion, add‐on, homopolymer, and rate of grafting. It was observed that the maximum yield occurred at with a time of 120 min at a temperature of 45°C and a guar gum concentration of 0.4 g/L concentration. The graft copolymer was characterized by infrared spectroscopy and thermal analysis. The activation energy for the grafted and ungrafted gum was calculated. It was observed that the graft copolymer was thermally more stable than the pure gum. The swelling and metal ion sorption behavior of guar gum and guar gum‐g‐N‐vinyl‐2‐pyrrolidone also were studied. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100: 2480–2489, 2006     

Dietary Guar Gum Reduces Lymph Flow and Diminishes Lipid Transport in Thoracic Duct-Cannulated Rats

Guar gum has a well-recognized hypolipidemic effect. This effect is thought to be due to the physicochemical properties of guar gum, which may cause changes in adsorption of lipids or the viscosity of the intestinal contents. Guar gum is a non-specific absorption inhibitor of any type of lipid-soluble compound. Permanent lymph duct cannulation was performed on rats to investigate the effects of dietary guar gum on lymph flow and lipid transport. Rats fed a 5% guar gum diet were compared with those fed a 5% cellulose diet, and lymph was collected after feeding. The water-holding capacity (WHC), settling volume in water (SV), and viscosity of guar gum were compared with those of cellulose. Rats fed with the guar gum diet had significantly lower lymph flow and lymphatic lipid transport than did rats fed with the cellulose diet. The WHC, SV, and viscosity of guar gum were significantly higher than those of cellulose. We propose that dietary guar gum reduces lymph flow and thereby diminishes lipid transport by means of its physicochemical properties related to water behavior in the intestine.     

STUDIES OF MIXING IN A CONCENTRIC TUBE AIR-LIFT REACTOR CONTAINING XANTHAN GUM BY MEANS OF AN IMPROVED FLOW FOLLOWER

The influence of a pseudoplastic non-Newtonian fluid upon the hydrodynamic performance and mixing parameters of a concentric tube air-lift fermenter has been studied using a range of dilute xanthan gum solutions (0-0.5% weight by volume). Liquid circulation times vary in a complex pattern with increasing gum concentration. At low concentrations, circulation was more; rapid due to drag reduction whilst at the highest concentrations circulation times were increased. The column voidage decreased with increasing gum concentration and bubbly flow in the riser was replaced by slug flow. For all gum concentrations the effective dispersion coefficient for a single passage around the loop was increased relative to tap water. An improved radio-pill flow follower system for hydrodynamic studies is described.     

STUDIES OF MIXING IN A CONCENTRIC TUBE AIR-LIFT REACTOR CONTAINING XANTHAN GUM BY MEANS OF AN IMPROVED FLOW FOLLOWER

The influence of a pseudoplastic non-Newtonian fluid upon the hydrodynamic performance and mixing parameters of a concentric tube air-lift fermenter has been studied using a range of dilute xanthan gum solutions (0-0.5% weight by volume). Liquid circulation times vary in a complex pattern with increasing gum concentration. At low concentrations, circulation was more; rapid due to drag reduction whilst at the highest concentrations circulation times were increased. The column voidage decreased with increasing gum concentration and bubbly flow in the riser was replaced by slug flow. For all gum concentrations the effective dispersion coefficient for a single passage around the loop was increased relative to tap water. An improved radio-pill flow follower system for hydrodynamic studies is described.     

Mechanical and morphological features of agarose-guar gum gels

Summary Young's modulus, maximum rupture stress and compression energy to break values were determined for pure agarose (5g/l and 10g/l) and 1:1 agarose-guar gum mixed gels of 10g/l total polymer concentration. The enhancing effect of guar gum was noticed particularly on the tenacity parameter. Transmission electron microscopy, TEM, was used to image the supramolecular structure of 1:1 agarose-guar gum gels. Before sample preparation for TEM, the hot aqueous solutions have been submitted to slow cooling until a determined temperature was reached, and then quenched to -78°C. When this temperature was higher than the critical temperature of gelation, agarose-guar gum mixed samples formed aggregated structures, promoted by freezing. Below gelation, although guar gum continued producing aggregates, agarose appeared as continuous network structures. This result was related to the stabilizing role of guar gum.     

Psyllium, not pectin or guar gum, alters lipoprotein and biliary bile acid composition and fecal sterol excretion in the hamster

Different soluble dietary fibers known to alter cholesterol metabolism were fed to golden Syrian hamsters, and their specific impact on lipoproteins, biliary bile acid profile, and fecal sterol excretion was evaluated. Semipurified diets containing 20% fat; 0.12% cholesterol; and 8% of psyllium (PSY); high (hePE) and low (lePE) esterified pectin; or high (hvGG) and low (lvGG) viscous guar gum were fed for 5 wk. Compared to control, PSY caused a significant reduction in plasma cholesterol (2.9±0.5 vs. 5.5±0.5 mmol/L), whereas hePE, lePE, hvGG, or lvGG had no apparent effect on plasma lipids. Hepatic total and esterified cholesterol were substantially decreased with PSY, pectin and guar gum, whereby PSY produced the most pronounced effect. Distinctive changes existed in the bile acid profile related to the different fibers. In contrast to pectin and guar gum, PSY caused a significant increase in the cholate:chenodeoxycholate and the glycine:taurine conjugation ratio. Pectin and guar gum did not alter daily fecal neutral sterol excretion while PSY caused a 90% increase due to a higher fecal output. Daily fecal bile acid excretion and total fecal bile acid concentration were significantly increased by PSY, whereas hePE, lePE, hvGG, and lvGG revealed no or only minor effects. Taken together, the disparate hypocholesterolemic effects of PSY, pectin, and guar gum on cholesterol and bile acid metabolism in the hamster are possibly related to different physicochemical properties, e.g., viscosity and susceptibility to fermentation, affecting the fiber-mediated action in the intestine.     

Grafting of acrylamide onto guar gum using KMNO4/oxalic acid redox system

The grafting of acrylamide onto guar gum in aqueous medium initiated by KMnO₄/oxalic acid redox system has been studied gravimetrically at the temperature 35 ± 0.2°C. The effect of redox components, acrylamide concentration and quantity of guar gum has been studied in terms of percentage and efficiency of grafting. A plausible mechanism of grafting and a suitable rate expression has been suggested. The rate of grafting was found to increase with increase in temperature and concentrations of redox components and acrylamide, but, at high concentration of guar gum, the rate was found to decrease.     

Shear and extensional rheological investigations in solutions of grafted and ungrafted polysaccharides

Many polysaccharides with varying shear stability have been grafted with polyacrylamide branches to enhance their turbulent drag‐reducing and flocculating characteristics. Their aqueous solutions have been studied by shear and extensional rheometric techniques. All the solutions of grafted carboxymethyl cellulose, guar gum, starch, and sodium alginate exhibit shear‐thinning non‐Newtonian behavior. The viscosities are higher than those of ungrafted polysaccharides. The solutions of grafted carboxymethyl cellulose, guar gum and sodium alginate are spinnable. When subjected to uniaxial stretching in a stretching device, the formation of a thread and reduction of the thread diameter with time were observed. The stretching device was used to measure the relaxation time, which was found to be the largest (∼26 ms), on the order of flexible polyacrylamide, for the grafted carboxymethyl cellulose. Though a polyacrylamide solution degrades through nozzle flow and completely loses its extensional properties, a solution of grafted carboxymethyl cellulose retains about half its relaxation time because of the shear stability of polysaccharide chains and their structure. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 77: 3200–3209, 2000     

Pentaerythritol encapsulated with boric acid: An efficient composite crosslinker for guar gum fracturing fluid

Commonly used crosslinker agents often have a low crosslinking efficiency with guar gum, the major component of fracturing fluid for crude oil recovery, and it often required a high loading of guar gum for achieving desired recovery from low-permeability reservoir. Nevertheless, a high-loading of guar gum might result in excessive residue and reduce the conductivity of the reservoir. Therefore, boric acid, a commonly used crosslinking agent, was introduced onto the surface of pentaerythritol to afford a composite crosslinking agent denoted as PB. The as-prepared PB crosslinker was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry. The guar gum fracturing gel crosslinked with the PB had fantastic viscoelasticity and thermal stability and could reduce the guar gum loading by 16.7%, with boric acid as a control. Besides, the gel-broken liquid had good compatibility with the simulated water and caused reduced damage to rock core, showing potential for hydraulic fracturing of low-permeability reservoirs. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137, 48528.     

Drag reduction in co-current down flow packed column using xanthan gum

Drag reduction is one of the most important techniques for reducing energy consumption in a packed bed contactor. The present work involves an experimental investigation on flow regime transition for air-water system with and without drag reducing agent (DRA), two-phase pressure drop, friction factor and drag reduction using xanthan gum as DRA. Drag reduction was quantified from the two-phase pressure drop data. Based on the present observations it was found that the percentage drag reduction increases with an increase in the concentration of DRA and it is only effective in the range of 300 ppm to 800 ppm. The experimental results indicate that a maximum of 80% drag reduction was achievable using xanthan gum (800 ppm) as DRA. Furthermore, the experimental data were validated with the available literature correlations.     

Water‐soluble polymers. LXXXIII. Correlation of experimentally determined drag reduction efficiency and extensional viscosity of high molecular weight polymers in dilute aqueous solution

The extensional viscosity for aqueous solutions of high molecular weight poly(acrylamide) copolymers and poly(ethylene oxide) homopolymers was measured using a laboratory‐designed screen extensional rheometer. A Bingham model was developed to estimate the average local polymer coil extensional viscosity (η_coil). A strong correlation was found between the measured η_coil values and the polymer extensional viscosity predicted by a bead‐spring model. The dilute aqueous solution drag reduction was measured with a rotating disk instrument under conditions minimizing the effects of shear degradation. Extensional viscosity and drag reduction measurements were performed in deionized water and in 0.514M sodium chloride. The relative drag reduction efficiency values (Δ) in both solvents were found to strongly correlate with measured η_coil values. This is the first report of the accurate prediction of drag reduction behavior for a wide range of polymer types in various solvents from the independently measured molecular parameters η_coil and [η]C. The often‐used relative drag reduction efficiency expressed as the product of [η]C and Δ can now be replaced by the absolute drag reduction efficiency [η]Cη_coil. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 82: 1222–1231, 2001