Chemspec Guargum Pakistan

Guar gum


Guar gum The Guar Gum is obtained from ground endosperm of the seeds of Cyamopsis tetragonolobus; which is mostly grown in semi-arid deserts of Indo-Pakistan sub-continent. Some of the Guar is also grown in Southern America. The Guar Gum has wide application in Food & Pharmaceutical Industry; as thickener & stabilizing agent usually in low concentrations from 0.01% to 0.50%, It is also used in sewerage water treatment; and as drilling mud & Oil-well fracturing fluid in Petroleum Industry. The Minning and explosives Industry employs the use of Guar Gum. The paper industry also uses Guar Gum for specific purposes. The Guar Gum consists mainly of high molecular weight hydrocolloidal polysaccharide composed of Galactose and mannose units combined through glycosidic linkages, which may be described as Galactomannan. It is a white to yellowish white, nearly odourless powder, dispersible in either hot or cold water forming a sol, having pH between 5.4 and 7.0 One of the important properties of Guar Gum is it's ability to hydrate rapidly in cold water to produce highly viscous solutions.. Hydration rates and water-binding properties of Guar are dependent on the processing techniques used in making the gum and upon the final condition of the solid material, particularly it's particle size. Guar Gum when completely hydrated forms a viscous colloidal thixotropic dispersion. As with most other gums, the viscosity of guar is dependent on time, temperature, concentration, pH, ionic strength, and the type of agitation. A 1% acqueous dispersion of a good-quality Guar Gum has a viscosity of 3'000 to 6'000 cps. Slow-hyration rate and high-hydration rate gums can be produced by adjusting the manufacturing process; many types of specialized Gums for special application are produced through different production techniques.





TYPES OF GUMS: There are five primary sources of Gums, all over the world from land and sea Seed Gums: Are obtained from Endosperm of Plant seeds like Guar Gum, Locust Bean Gum (Carob) Tree Exudates: The Tree exudates harden as they ooze out from the trees, they are picked off and groud to fine flour e.g. Gum Arabic, Gum Tragacanth & Gum Ghatti. Marine Gums: These are basically obtained from Seaweeds, namely Carrageena Gum, Alginate, Furcelleran and Agar-Agar. Microbial Fermentation: These are obtained by large-scale Mirobial Fermentation of specific substrates, these are essentially foods modified by microbes, e.g. Xanthan Gum, which resembles Natural Honey. Chemically Derived: These are chemically produced Gums, the basic raw material is Cellulose of vegetable origin, chemically modified to have certain attributes; most common of these is Carboxy Methyl Cellulose.(CMC)





MARKET DYNAMICS


Guar Gum Powder is the most cost effective natural cold water soluble thickener. The range of past, existing and potential applications is vast. Guar has demonstrated its great versatility as a pure product and also in its chemically treated forms. New product development at the low and high viscosity ranges have in recent years demonstrated that there is indeed commercial benefit to be derived from getting the most possible out of this extraordinary gum. As a natural product, guar offers an intrinsic attraction to consumers of foods, beverages, and nutraceuticals, which cannot be matched by sythetics. Guar's market position comes under constant attack from well-financed sythetic and natural gums competition, specially from modified starches and gum systems. The United States is the biggest consumer of Guar Gum in the world. The total imports in 1998 were 60'000 metric tons, which considerably dropped in 1999 and again improved by 20% in year 2000. Some application field show a cyclical factor in demand. In United States the dramatic upsurge in Oil prices increased guar consumption in this sector. Guar usage as printing thickener continues to decline significantly. It is an old and well-known ingredient in Food and Beverage industry, but is being slowly replaced by some other novel additives. The consumption in Indian Textiles industry has considerably declined. The Chinese imports have considerably dropped to under 5000 metric tons, due to high price of the Guar and expected to rise considerably during the comming season , year 2001, having a projected promise of low Guar prices because of expected Bumper harvest. The worldwide exports from India and Pakistan dramatically reduced in 1999-2000, well below the base average annualized demand of 125'000 - 150'000 MT. The early reports that internal Indian consumption, which is primarily in the textile industry has been replaced by Tamarind Kernal Powder & other thickeners. The recent Indian textile business estimate is 10'000-15'000 MT. However, it now appears that the market recovers once the prices went back down. There is agreement that the higher prices during 2000 depressed the demand.