Xanthan Gum

About This Product

Xanthan gum is a high molecular weight polysaccharide produced by fermenting a carbohydrate substrate with Xanthomonas campestris. It carries CAS number 11138-66-2 and is supplied as a cream-coloured free-flowing powder that hydrates in cold or hot water. Its industrial position rests on two properties in combination. The first is pronounced shear-thinning: at rest the polymer chains associate into a network of high apparent viscosity, and under shear those associations break and viscosity collapses, recovering the instant shear stops. In a drilling fluid that is precisely the required behaviour, since the mud must stay thin enough to pump down the string at high rate yet thicken immediately in the annulus to carry rock cuttings to surface and hold them suspended when circulation stops. The second is tolerance of conditions that destroy most thickeners: xanthan holds its viscosity across pH 2 to 12, in high salt and calcium brines, and through repeated freeze-thaw and heating. Starch and most other biopolymers fail on at least one of those. Typical use is 0.1 to 0.5 percent. It is used in drilling and fracturing fluids, enhanced oil recovery, agrochemical suspensions, water-based paints, textile printing and cleaning products. Bio Green Chem supplies xanthan gum to specification on viscosity, mesh size, moisture, ash, pyruvic acid, pH and microbiology.