Natural Polymers for Sticky Removal

A few articles describe the application of starch, modified starch, or other carbohydrate polymers as flocculant for sticky removal [63-66]. The role of charge on the destabilization of microstickies was investigated by Huo by comparing the strong PC 

PDADMAC with commercial cationic starch. The agglomeration of microstickies with PDADMAC occurred mainly via a charge neutralizatiOTi mechanism. In contrast, the agglomeration of microstickies with cationic starch had a more complicated behavior [64]. 

The surface tension of this mixture between modified starch and the suspension with a very high sticky content can be further increased by the addition of bentonite (Aquamont) [72], so that the resulting supernatant is almost free of surface-active substances (surface tension about 70 mN/m). It is also important that the mixing 

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. 

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