Guar gum, also called guaran, is a galactomannan. It is primarily the ground endosperm of guar beans. The guar seeds are dehusked, milled and screened to obtain the guar gum. It is typically produced as a free flowing, pale, off-white colored, coarse to fine ground powder.Just like Grandma used to make.
I remember lots of lazy Summer afternoons, laying around in the guar gum patch, counting clouds while Grandma and the adults went down to the lab to prepare anhydrous reaction conditions at relatively low temperature (4060 degrees Celsius), with solid sodium hydrogen carbonate (NaHCO3) used as the catalyst, being a milder base than NaOH and therefore reducing any pH-induced degradation reactions.
Using this method the Grandma was able to prepare acetate, succinate and octenylsuccinate derivatives of galactomannans. Guar gum is also used in:
- Textile industry – sizing, finishing and printing
- Paper industry – improved sheet formation, folding and denser surface for printing
- Explosives industry – as waterproofing agent mixed with ammonium nitrate, nitroglycerin etc.
- Pharmaceutical industry – as binder or as disintegrator in tablets
- Cosmetics and toiletries industries – thickener in toothpastes, conditioner in shampoos (usually in a chemically modified version)
- Oil and gas drilling, hydraulic fracturing
- Mining
- Hydroseeding – formation of seed bearing "guar tack"[7]
