Guar gum, also called guaran, is a galactomannan polysaccharide extracted from guar beans that has thickening and stabilizing properties useful in food, feed, and industrial applications. The guar seeds are mechanically dehusked, hydrated, milled and screened according to application. It is typically produced as a free-flowing, off-white powder.
Production and trade The guar bean is principally grown in India, Pakistan, the United States, Australia and Africa. India is the largest producer, accounting for nearly 80% of world production. In India, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Haryana are the main producing regions. The US has produced 4,600 to 14,000 tonnes of guar over the last 5 years. Texas acreage since 1999 has fluctuated from about 7,000 to 50,000 acres. The world production for guar gum and its derivatives is about 1.0 million tonnes. Non-food guar gum accounts for about 40% of the total demand.
Properties
Chemical composition
Chemically, guar gum is an exo-polysaccharide composed of the sugars galactose and mannose. The backbone is a linear chain of β 1,4-linked mannose residues to which galactose residues are 1,6-linked at every second mannose, forming short side-branches. Guar gum has the ability to withstand temperatures of 80 °C (176 °F) for five minutes.
Solubility and viscosity Guar gum is more soluble than locust bean gum due to its extra galactose branch points. Unlike locust bean gum, it is not self-gelling. Either borax or calcium can cross-link guar gum, causing it to gel. In water, it is nonionic and hydrocolloidal. It is not affected by ionic strength or pH, but will degrade at extreme pH and temperature (e.g., pH 3 at 50 °C). It remains stable in solution over pH range 5–7. Strong acids cause hydrolysis, and loss of viscosity and alkalis in strong concentration also tend to reduce viscosity. It is insoluble in most hydrocarbon solvents. The viscosity attained is dependent on time, temperature, concentration, pH, rate of agitation and particle size of the powdered gum used. The lower the temperature, the lower the rate at which viscosity increases, and the lower the final viscosity. Above 80 °C, the final viscosity is slightly reduced. Finer guar powders swell more rapidly than larger particle size coarse powdered gum. Guar gum shows a clear low shear plateau on the flow curve and is strongly shear-thinning. The rheology of guar gum is typical for a random coil polymer. It does not show the very high low shear plateau viscosities seen with more rigid polymer chains such as xanthan gum. It is very thixotropic above 1% concentration, but below 0.3%, the thixotropy is slight. Guar gum shows viscosity synergy with xanthan gum. Guar gum and micellar casein mixtures can be slightly thixotropic if a biphase system forms.
Thickening One use of guar gum is as a thickening agent in foods and medicines for humans and animals. Because it is gluten-free, it is used as an additive to replace wheat flour in baked goods.:41 It has been shown to reduce serum cholesterol and lower blood glucose levels. Guar gum is also economical because it has almost eight times the water-thickening ability of other agents (e.g., cornstarch) and only a small quantity is needed for producing sufficient viscosity. Because less is required, costs are reduced. In addition to guar gum's effects on viscosity, its high ability to flow, or deform, gives it favorable rheological properties. It forms gels that can be broken down after use when cross-linked with boron. It is used in various multi-phase formulations for hydraulic fracturing, in some as an emulsifier because it helps prevent oil droplets from coalescing, and in others as a stabilizer to help prevent solid particles from settling and/or separating. Fracking entails the pumping of sand-laden fluids into an oil or natural gas reservoir at high pressure and flow rate. This cracks the reservoir rock and then props the cracks open. Water alone is too thin to be effective at carrying proppant sand, so guar gum is one of the ingredients added to thicken the slurry mixture and improve its ability to carry proppant. There are several properties which are important 1. Thixotropic: the fluid should be thixotropic, meaning it should gel within a few hours. 2. Gelling and de-gelling: The desired viscosity changes over the course of a few hours. When the fracking slurry is mixed, it needs to be thin enough to make it easier to pump. Then as it flows down the pipe, the fluid needs to gel to support the proppant and flush it deep into the fractures. After that process, the gel has to break down so that it is possible to recover the fracking fluid but leave the proppant behind. This requires a chemical process which produces then breaks the gel cross-linking at a predictable rate. Guar+boron+proprietary chemicals can accomplish both of these goals at once.
Ice crystal growth Guar gum retards ice crystal growth by slowing mass transfer across the solid/liquid interface. It shows good stability during freeze-thaw cycles. Thus, it is used in egg-free ice cream. Guar gum has synergistic effects with locust bean gum and sodium alginate. May be synergistic with xanthan: together with xanthan gum, it produces a thicker product (0.5% guar gum / 0.35% xanthan gum), which is used in applications such as soups, which do not require clear results. Guar gum is a hydrocolloid, hence is useful for making thick pastes without forming a gel, and for keeping water bound in a sauce or emulsion. Guar gum can be used for thickening cold and hot liquids, to make hot gels, light foams and as an emulsion stabilizer. Guar gum can be used for cottage cheeses, curds, yoghurt, sauces, soups and frozen desserts. Guar gum is also a good source of fiber, with 80% soluble dietary fiber on a dry weight basis.
Grading
Guar gum is analysed for
Guar gum powder standards are:
HS-Code- 130 232 30 CAS No.- 9000-30-0 EEC No.- E 412 BT No.- 1302 3290 EINECS No. - 232-536-8 Imco Code- Harmless
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