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Alternatives to glycerin for dissolving Xanthan Gum or CMC?
So I would like to achieve a super concentrated liquid that when added to water would make a kind of gel (like laundry gel, shower gel, etc).
My idea was to dissolve Xanthan Gum in Glycerin.
1g Xanthan Gum to 10g GlycerinAt first, it’s kind of liquid, but after a day or two it’s becoming too dense gel for my liking.
Any idea? Thank you
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7 Replies
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You can’t dissolve Xanthan Gum in Glycerin. You can create a suspension (evenly distributed powder in medium).
As a strong humectant Glycerin attracts water from the air. This water wets Xanthan Gum and jellifies it. So I don’t think you can store it as is.
The technique is used only to premix the gum right before adding it to the water, not to store it.
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Consider the ratio. You can experiment with 1:20 ; 1:30 ; 1:50 .
Then observe for some days to gain consistency. Choose the best that suits your desired requirement and perform quality assurance as well as quality control
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Hi Levita,
Have you considered making a condensed surfactant?
You can utilize your experiment, add a surfactant and preservative then pour into ice cube trays or molds before it hardens?
Then you can add a cube to water and boom you have your shower gel!?
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Propanediol and other glycols also could work, but the gum will sediment over time
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Yes, this is what I noticed. Glycerin work much better then propylene glycol.
Anyway, I haven’t found any solution for this issue.
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The other comments have already made some good points. You could maybe try this with an iota carrageenan as well- if you add a suspension of that material into water in the presence of salt (preferably divalent like Calcium) you can get a thicker texture. It won’t be very smooth, but maybe using it in combination with xanthan or CMC would help.
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There is a much simpler & better solution to this: do not use ANY polyol to “pre-mix” xanthan, CMC or any other polymeric gum resin. ALWAYS add resins directly and slowly into water FIRST before adding any other component to it while mixing at high shear for as long as it takes to disperse/hydrate then proceed. A little heating helps too. Where the gum has a high yield value like guar or xanthan, leading to still spots around the edge, just activate the side-sweep agitator on the tank at same time to move that around. If no side-sweep agitator is available recirculate through the pump/transfer line continuously - which you would be doing anyway to prevent plugs, right? If this is a laboratory thing then just employ a spatula around the beaker perimeter. After all my years in this science I still do not understand why so many formulators use that “pre-mix” approach. Please STOP doing that, folks.
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