Highly cationic starches

Sticky removal with different natural polymers has been compared [69]. Tailored starches, with benzyl as well as with ethyl substituents, from very low to high cationic starch density, were investigated as well as benzylated chitosan. 

Starch is a polysaccharide found in many plant species. Com and potatoes are two common sources of industrial starch. The composition of starch varies somewhat in terms of the amount of branching of the polymer chains (11). Its principal use as a flocculant is in the Bayer process for extracting aluminum from bauxite ore. The digestion of bauxite in sodium hydroxide solution produces a suspension of finely divided iron minerals and siUcates, called red mud, in a highly alkaline Hquor. Starch is used to settle the red mud so that relatively pure alumina can be produced from the clarified Hquor. It has been largely replaced by acryHc acid and acrylamide-based (11,12) polymers, although a number of plants stiH add some starch in addition to synthetic polymers to reduce the level of residual suspended soHds in the Hquor. Starch [9005-25-8] can be modified with various reagents to produce semisynthetic polymers. The principal one of these is cationic starch, which is used as a retention aid in paper production as a component of a dual system (13,14) or a microparticle system (15). 

The first commercially successful cationic starch was prepared by reacting 2-diethylaminoethy1 chloride with starch in a highly alkaline aqueous suspension. ... 

Cationic starches are widely used as wet-end additives in the pulp and paper industry to enhance starch and filler retention during papermaking. Use of cationic starches increases paper strength and decreases biological oxygen demand (BOD) of paper mill effluent. Presently only cationic corn and potato starches are used by Canadian paper mills. The degree of substitution (DS) of normal, waxy, high-amylose barley... 

Combinations of cationic starch and anionic microparticles are useful commercial systems. Shear-sensitive flocculation occurs, allowing microscale reflocculation in the formed paper sheet, which improves dewatering and retention.63,75,76 The microparticles can be colloidal silica, aluminum silicate, poly(silicic acid) or bentonite of specific size and surface area.77 79 Cationic, anionic or polymeric aluminum-containing compounds can be additional components. A three-part coacervate system uses a high molecular weight anionic polyacrylamide, cationic starch and silica.80 Cooking cationic starch in the presence of an anionic silica hydrosol was reported to improve drainage and retention.81... 

Cationic starch is mainly adsorbed by the small fiber fractions and filler particles, according to their high specific surface. At low cationic starch levels (0.5%), only the small fiber fraction is saturated and rendered cationic a mosaic system is established which results in small flocks and good retention, but poor drainage. Increasing the... 

WI Starch Xanthate. Research by Wing and others (22, 27-29) has shown that water-soluble (WS) starch xanthates, in combination with cationic polymers to form polyelectrolyte complexes, can effectively remove heavy metals from waste water. To eliminate the expensive cationic polymer and give a more economical method of heavy metal removal, further research by Wing and others (12,30-33) showed that xanthation of a highly crosslinked starch yields a water-insoluble (WI) product that is effective in removing heavy metals from waste water without the need for a cationic polymer. In more recent work, Tare and Chaudhari (34) evaluated the effectiveness of the starch xanthate (WS and WI) process for removal of hexavalent chromium from synthetic waste waters. 

Very early in the use of cationic starches, it was recognised that acidity from alnm in moderate to high levels can change the requirements for a cationic starch to those of an amphoteric starch. The highly cationic alnm at low pH competes for fibre and filler adsorption sites with the cationic starch [13]. It is postulated that interaction between the alum and the anionic phosphate affects starch retention. The anionic charge does not appear to provide an appreciable benefit in alkaline systems [14]. 

Cationic starch gives a denser sheet, especially at high loadings. 

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