Viscosity of solutions of xanthan/locust bean gum mixtures

Abstract

Xanthan and locust bean gums are polysaccharides able to produce aqueous solutions with high viscosity and non-Newtonian behaviour. When these solutions are mixed a dramatic increase on viscosity is observed, much greater than the combined viscosity of the separated polysaccharide solutions. In this work the influences of different variables on the viscosity of solutions of mixtures of xanthan/locust bean gum have been studied. Total polysaccharide concentration, xanthan and locust bean ratio on mixture and temperature at which the gum was dissolved (dissolution temperature) for both xanthan and locust bean gums have been considered. Under these different operational mixture conditions shear rate and time have also been considered to describe the rheological behaviour of the solutions studied. The high viscosity increase observed in these mixtures is due to the interaction between xanthan gum and locust bean gum molecules. This interaction takes place between the side chains of xanthan and the backbone of the locust bean gum. Both xanthan molecule conformation in solution – tertiary structure – and locust bean gum structure show great influence on the final viscosity of the solution mixtures. Xanthan conformation changes with temperature, going from ordered structures to disordered or chaotic ones. Locust bean gum composition changes with dissolution temperature, showing a dissolved galactose/mannose ratio reduction when temperature increases, ie the smooth regions – zones without galactose radicals – are predominantly dissolved. The highest viscosity was obtained for the solution mixture with a total polysaccharide concentration of 1.5 kg m−3 and a xanthan/locust ratio of 2:4 (w/w) and when xanthan gum and locust bean gum were dissolved at 40°C and 80°C, respectively. © 1999 Society of Chemical Industry