Gum, xanthan

Xanthan gum is a long-chain polysaccharide composed of the sugars glucose, mannose, and glucuronic acid. The backbone is similar to cellulose, with added side chains of trisaccharides (three sugars in a chain). 

A polysaccharide such as xanthan gum is a chain of sugars. Some familiar polysaccharides are starch and cellulose. The backbone of xanthan gum is similar to cellulose, but the trisaccharide side chains of mannose and glucuronic acid make the molecule rigid, and allow it to form a right-handed helix. These features make it interact with 

Xanthan gum is a slimy gel produced by the bacterium Xan-thomonas campestris, which causes black rot on cruciferous vegetables, such as cauliflower and broccoli. The slime protects the bacterium from viruses and prevents it from drying out. 

Xanthan gum is used as a thickener in sauces, as an agent in ice cream that prevents ice crystals from forming, and as a fat substitute that adds the mouth feel of fat without the calories. It is used in canned pet food to add cling. In pastry fillings, it prevents syneresis (weeping of the water in the filling), protecting the crispness of the crust. 

It has a very high viscosity (thickness) even when very little is used. 

It is hydrophilic, anionic-bacterial heteropolysaccharide. Xanthan gum can be obtained from the fermentation of the gram-negative bacterium Xanthomonas campestris (8). 

Sustained release tablets for metoprolol tartrate have been prepared using xanthan gum and tragacanth (38). 

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Xanthan Gum. Xanthan gum [11138-66-2] is produced by industrial fermentation of a carbohydrate under aerobic conditions by culturing the... 

Concentrations above 0.3% form a gel with borate which is reversible upon the subsequent addition of mannitol (a sequestrant for borate) or of acid. Usefiil combinations are formed with carrageenan (63) and xanthan gum (64) and agar. In many appHcations, it is used in combination with these gums at considerable cost savings. 

Xanthan Gum. As a result of a project to transform agriculturally derived products into industrially usefiil products by microbial action, the Northern Regional Research Laboratories of the USDA showed that the bacterium TCanthomonas campestris - noduces a polysaccharide with industrially usefiil properties (77). Extensive research was carried out on this interesting polysaccharide in several industrial laboratories during the eady 1960s, culminating in commercial production in 1964. 

Properties. Xanthan gum is a cream-colored powder that dissolves in either hot or cold water to produce solutions with high viscosity at low concentration. These solutions exhibit pseudoplasticity, ie, the viscosity decreases as the shear rate increases. This decrease is instantaneous and reversible. Solutions, particularly in the presence of small amounts of electrolyte, have exceUent thermal stabiHty, and their viscosity is essentially constant over the range 0 to 80°C. They are not affected by changes in pH ranging from 2 to 10. 

Xanthan gum dissolves in acids and bases, and under certain conditions, the viscosity remains stable for several months. Xanthan gum has exceUent StabiHty and compatibUity with high concentrations of many salts, eg, 15% solutions of sodium chloride and 25% solutions of calcium chloride (79). 

Health nd Safety Factors. The toxicological and safety properties of xanthan gum have been extensively investigated (82). On the basis of these studies, the EDA issued a food additive order in 1969 that allowed the use of xanthan gum in food products without specific quantity limitations. 

Uses. The unique properties of xanthan gum make it suitable for many appHcations for the food, pharmaceutical, and agricultural industries (79). 

Welan has similar properties to xanthan gum except that it has increased viscosity at low shear rates and improved thermal stabiUty and compatibihty with calcium at alkaline pH (90). The increased thermal stabiUty has led to its use as a drilling mud viscosifter especially for high temperature weUs. The excellent compatibihty with calcium at high pH has resulted in its use in a variety of specialized cement and concrete appHcations. 

Solutions of welan are very viscous and pseudoplastic, ie, shear results in a dramatic reduction in viscosity that immediately returns when shearing is stopped, even at low polymer concentrations (230). They maintain viscosity at elevated temperatures better than xanthan gum at 135°C the viscosity half-life of a 0.4% xanthan gum solution is essentially zero, whereas a welan gum solution has a viscosity half-life of 900 minutes (230). The addition of salt to welan solutions slightly reduces viscosity, but not significantly. It has excellent stabiUty and theological properties in seawater, brine, or 3% KCl solutions... 

Applications. The high heat tolerance and good salt compatibiUty of welan gum indicate its potential for use as an additive in several aspects of oil and natural gas recovery. Welan also has suspension properties superior to xanthan gum, which is desirable in oil-field drilling operations and hydraulic fracturing projects. It is compatible with ethylene glycol, and a welan—ethylene glycol composition that forms a viscous material useful in the formulation of insulating materials has been described (244). 

Xanthan gum [11138-66-2] is an anionic heteropolysaccharide produced by several species of bacteria in the genus Aanthomonas A. campestris NRRL B-1459 produces the biopolymer with the most desirable physical properties and is used for commercial production of xanthan gum (see Gums). This strain was identified in the 1950s as part of a program to develop microbial polysaccharides derived from fermentations utilizing com sugar (333,334). The primary... 

Low molecular weight (1000—5000) polyacrylates and copolymers of acryflc acid and AMPS are used as dispersants for weighted water-base muds (64). These materials, 40—50% of which is the active polymer, are usually provided in a Hquid form. They are particularly useful where high temperatures are encountered or in muds, which derive most of their viscosity from fine drill soHds, and polymers such as xanthan gum and polyacrylamide. Another high temperature polymer, a sulfonated styrene maleic—anhydride copolymer, is provided in powdered form (65,66). AH of these materials are used in relatively low (ca 0.2—0.7 kg/m (0.5—2 lb /bbl)) concentrations in the mud. 

The most commonly used polymers are partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamides (32). The optimum degree of hydrolysis depends on the apphcation, injection water composition, and reservoir conditions (33,34). More salt-tolerant acrylamide copolymers may permit this technology in higher salinity injection water (35). Eield apphcations of cross-linked xanthan gum have also been reported (36). 

Cross-linked xanthan gums have also been used to reduce the permeabiUty of thief 2ones. Trivalent chromium is the preferred cross-linker (54). Cross-linker effectiveness is less at high salinity. However, Cr(III) has been used ia the field at salinities as great as 166,000 ppm total dissolved soHds (55). 

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