A High Performance Flocculating Agent and Viscosifiers Based On Cationic Guar Gum

The anionic, cationic and nonionic polymeric flocculants endowed with several distinguished characteristics are being increasingly applied for the treatment of industrial effluents, municipal and wastewater. For the treatment of highly negatively charged particle suspensions, cationic flocculants are more efficient. A new route to guar gum derivatives bearing cationic groups has been developed. A series of cationic guar gums (Cat GG) have been developed by incorporating a cationic moiety N- (3- Chloro-2- hydroxypropyl) trimethyl ammonium chloride (CHPTAC) onto the backbone of guar gum in presence of NaOH. The various grades of cationic guar gum have been characterized by elemental analysis, FTIR spectroscopy and intrinsic viscosity measurement. The flocculation characteristics of these cationic guar gums have been evaluated in silica suspension by jar test. It has been found that among the various grades of cationic guar gums, the one with longer CHPTAC chains shows better performance. The flocculation characteristics of this best performing cationic guar are compared with those of various commercially available flocculants in silica suspension. Their rheological investigations have also been undertaken.