Guar
Guar
gum derives itself from the ground endosperm of the guar plant.
The guar plant produces a drought resistant legume (or
bean). This bean was brought to the United States in the early
1900's. The word guar means, "cow food" in Hindi.
Just as the name suggests, its historical use in the Asian
sub continent
was to feed cattle. Guar prefers a hot, dry climate and thrives
in area receiving less than 30-inches of annual rainfall. When
there is a lack of moisture, guar will stop growing but it
will
not die. Guar is tolerant of soil salinity and alkalinity but
grows best in sandy loam.
Guar
is a plant that historically has been grown in India and Pakistan.
However, in recent years guar is being grown in large quantities
is the semi-arid regions of the United States such as west Texas,
southwestern Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona.
In
the past, guar crop yield was dependent on the amount of rainfall
during monsoon season. Too much or too little rain would reduce
the size of the crop and therefore negatively affect the supply
and price. This phenomenon was mainly due to the fact that the
planting of guar occurred in "non-irrigated" fields.
By
having domestic US sourcing that has planted guar a crop of guar
that grows on irrigated fields in the off-season. This crop will
not be affected by seasonal monsoon rains and has a more predictable
yield. We believe that we are the only major guar manufacturer
who has taken this step to guarantee supply to our customers.
The guar bean is made up of 36% endosperm (gum) and 54% protein
(germ) with the remainder as hull fiber (husk). The endosperm
is the "active" material in the guar bean.
The
endosperm consists of long branching polymers of mannose and galactose.
The molecular structure is very similar to that of cellulose.
Chemical
Structure of Guar
Guar
is a cold-water soluble polysaccharide. It has broad uses in food
and in many heavy industries. Guar's main value its ease of hydration
in aqueous systems producing high viscosity solutions at low gum
concentrations. Its main industrial uses other than food include,
but are not limited to, oil and gas drilling, textile, carpet,
personal care, fire foam, explosives, water treatment, hydro mulching,
erosion control and papermaking. In many of these industries the
guar backbone is modified by derivitization or depolymerization
to fine-tune the product's performance characteristics.
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