Carboxymethyl inulin: A new inhibitor for calcium carbonate precipitation

Abstract

A new polysaccharide‐based polycarboxylate, carboxymethyl inulin (CMI), was synthesized recently. The influence of small amounts (0.1–200 ppm) of this material on the crystallization of calcium carbonate, an important scale‐forming salt, is studied. The effects of CMI are compared to those of a commercial inhibitor (a copolymer of acrylate and maleate) and of other carboxymethylated saccharides. It is shown that CMI is a good calcium carbonate precipitation inhibitor. CMI influences the spontaneous precipitation of calcium carbonate, the morphology of the formed crystals (vaterite and calcite), and the growth rate of calcium carbonate seed crystals. The effect is related to the carboxylate content, the chainlength, and the concentration of the additive. For the application of CMI as crystallization inhibitor, products with a high degree of substitution (degree of substitution>1) and a high degree of polymerization (average degree of polymerization = 30) are the most effective. Also, other carboxymethylated polysaccharides (dextrins, cellulose) show good crystallization‐inhibition properties, although the performance of the copolymer of acrylate and maleate is not met. A great advantage of CMI, as compared to carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), is that aqueous solutions of CMI display, contrary to those of CMC, a very low viscosity. A carboxymethylated disaccharide (carboxymethyl sucrose) has no influence on the calcium carbonate crystallization which shows that the long‐chain character is essential for a polycarboxylate inhibitor.

New supramolecular metallo-terpyridine carboxymethyl cellulose derivatives with antimicrobial properties

“…Attachment of the carboxymethyl moieties occurs predominantly at the C-2 and C-6 glucose positions with a preference for C-6 vs. C-2 (Heinze & Pfeiffer, 1999). Its water solubility, rheological properties, non-toxicity, and polyelectrolyte nature favor its use in many diverse applications, such as food additives (Parvar, Tehrani, Razavi, & Koocheki, 2013), pharmaceutics (Chukwumezie, Wojcik, Malak, & Adeyeye, 2002), bone regeneration (Jiang, Li, Zhang, & Wang, 2009), adhesives (Kawamoto, 2003), textiles (Krizova & Wiener, 2013), pesticides (Nisar, Kumar, Shakil, Pankaj, & Parmar, 2009), detergents (Verraest, Peters, van Bekkum, & van Rosmalen, 1996), paper (Li, Liu, Xu, & Xu, 2010;Watanabe, Gondo, & Kitao, 2004), and ceramic binders (Khosrowshahi & Salem, 2011).…”

Migration and precipitation of soluble species during drying of colloidal films

“…Backfolk et al [46] and Verraest et al [47] have shown that CMC can form complexes with Ca 2+ , and we thus expect CMC to control the nucleation and crystal growth of CaCO 3 in a similar fashion as the polyacrylates. Previous work has shown that CMC is not able to replace a preadsorbed polyacrylate from the surface of the CaCO 3 particles [46].…”

Physical Properties of Inulin and Technological Applications

“…Modifications of inulin may expand the amount and type of technological applications because most of these compounds are readily biodegradable. For example, in the chemical industry, modified inulin by different chemistry processes is used as chelating agent and antifouling in pipes, containers, reaction chambers, and separation equipment, among others, or converted into plastic films as a proposed alternative for the substitution of petroleum polymers (Grandther et al 2005;Kasapis 2006;Verraest et al 1996).…”