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Biodegradable drag reducing agents and flocculants based on polysaccharides: Materials and applications
Author(s) -
Singh Ram Prakash,
Karmakar G. P.,
Rath S. K.,
Karmakar N. C.,
Pandey S. R.,
Tripathy T.,
Panda J.,
Kanan K.,
Jain S. K.,
Lan N. T.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.11138
Subject(s) - amylopectin , flocculation , guar gum , starch , xanthan gum , materials science , polysaccharide , polymer , chemical engineering , grafting , thixotropy , polyacrylamide , amylose , polymer science , chemistry , organic chemistry , polymer chemistry , rheology , composite material , food science , engineering
Organic and inorganic flocculants are used in treatment of water and industrial effluents. Polymeric flocculants, synthetic as well as natural, because of their natural inertness to PH changes, low dosage, and easy handling, have become very popular in industrial effluent treatment. It has been established in the authors' laboratory that by grafting polyacrylamide branches on rigid backbone of polysaccharides, the dangling grafted chains have easy approachability to contaminants in effluents. Thus grafted polysaccharides are very efficient, shear stable and biodegradable flocculants. They also exhibit turbulent drag reducing characteristics. Among grafted guar gum, xanthan gum, carboxymethyl cellulose, and starch, grafted starch performs the best. Starch consists of amylose (a low molecular weight linear polymer) and amylopectin (a high molecular weight, branched polymer). The grafted amylopectin is found to be the best flocculant for various kinds of industrial effluents, providing credibility to the above‐cited model. In the present paper, the details about grafted polysaccharides as turbulent drag reducers and flocculants are given, along with their applications.