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Title: Improving the stability of coal slurries: Quarterly progress report for the period June 15, 1987-September 15, 1987

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6223310

Gum tragacanth, GT is a polysaccharide containing tragacanthic acid and arabinogalactan. In order to find which polysaccharide is responsible for the stabilization, the arabinogalactan and polygalacturonic acid were used in the flocculation test. The polygalacturonic acid is a linear polysaccharide which constitutes the core of tragacanthic acid that is branched polysaccharide. The much greater stabilization effect by polygalacturonic acid indicated that the tragacanthic acid is responsible for the stabilization by GT. More interestingly, the similar pH dependence of the stability was found for polygalacturonic acid as had been found for GT. The binding study indicated that this pH effect for polygalacturonic acid is due to the difference in the amount of adsorption whereas the pH effect for GT is due to the difference in the steric layer thickness with about the same amount of adsorption. This relative pH independence of amount of adsorption for GT indicates that the binding mechanism of GT is hydrophobic. In order to verify this, the hydrophilic latex was used in the adsorption study as well as hydrophobic latex. It was found that the amount of adsorption of GT for the hydrophilic latex was less than that for the hydrophobic sulfate polystyrene latex. 10 refs., 6 figs., 2 tabs.

Research Organization:
Michigan Univ., Ann Arbor (USA). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
DOE Contract Number:
FG22-85PC80517
OSTI ID:
6223310
Report Number(s):
DOE/PC/80517-T8; ON: DE88000071
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English