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Today's Topic: Gums
Presented by: Rick Earley, Regional Sales Manager

Gums are a group of polymers called hydrocolloids. They have the ability to form gels or impart a higher viscosity to water-based systems. Most gums are derived from plant materials including bark, fruit, nuts, sap, stems, and some are produced by microbes. The plants may be cultivated or wild and may grow in the desert or under the sea.

Gums are generally used in foods and syrups to increase viscosity, suspend particles or improve mouthfeel. Some are used for their surfactant qualities, such as in stabilizing an oil-in-water emulsion like salad dressing. Typically they are powders that swell in cold water to form a gel.

Hydrating these powders quickly is the key to the efficient use of gums in processing. With conventional low-speed mixing, dry powder clumps will often form surrounded by a wet, sticky exterior layer. These "fisheyes" or "gel slugs" disperse very slowly as water migrates into the powder "by osmosis". The Admix solution is to disperse the powder quickly with high shear, to minimize particle formation, and de-agglomerate the powder in minutes rather than hours.

If you use any of the following:

an Admix Rotosolver® or Rotostat® will speed your batch mixing. If you need continuous de-agglomeration in-line, try our DynaShear® or Boston Shearpump® mixers. For rapid powder feeding into liquids, check out Fastfeed™ and VacuShear®.

Bring us your mixing challenges, and we will recommend creative solutions... Please call our applications engineers at 800-466-2369 or email us at mixing@admix.com.

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