1. Biosynthesis and Molecular Structure
Welan Gum is an anionic extracellular polysaccharide produced by fermentation of Alcaligenes sp. In the petroleum industry, it is regarded as a next-generation biopolymer following xanthan gum, particularly suitable for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), drilling fluids, and fracturing fluids. Its molecular backbone consists of glucose, glucuronic acid, and rhamnose units, and its unique side-chain structure enables the formation of rigid helical conformations in solution. This molecular characteristic provides exceptional structural stability under extreme conditions, laying the foundation for its application in harsh reservoir environments.
2. Rheological Stability Under Extreme Conditions
The most outstanding property of Welan Gum is its remarkable thermal stability and salt tolerance. Compared to conventional xanthan gum (whose viscosity approaches zero at 135°C), Welan Gum maintains structural integrity at temperatures up to 163°C, and its thickening behavior is thermally reversible. This characteristic makes it irreplaceable for high-temperature deep-well operations.
Furthermore, Welan Gum remains stable in highly saline brine solutions. Studies have shown that when modified with silica nanoparticles, its viscosity can be increased by 50% at 1.5 wt% salinity, significantly improving oil displacement efficiency in high-salinity environments. This dual tolerance to high temperature and high salinity enables its application in reservoirs where xanthan gum would fail.
3. Unique Shear-Thinning Mechanism
As a non-Newtonian fluid, oilfield-grade Welan Gum exhibits typical pseudoplastic or shear-thinning behavior. Under static or low-shear conditions, polymer chains form an entangled network via hydrogen bonding and other interactions, generating high apparent viscosity that effectively suspends solid particles and prevents drilling cuttings from settling or displacing fluid fingering.
Under high shear rates (such as when passing through drill bits or pore throats), the molecular chains align in the flow direction, and viscosity drops sharply, ensuring excellent pumpability and injectability. Once entering low-shear zones deep in the formation, viscosity recovers, establishing displacement pressure. This "low viscosity during pumping, high viscosity in the reservoir" characteristic minimizes wellhead resistance while ensuring deep profile control and oil displacement efficiency.
4. Profile Control and Nanocomposite Applications
In tertiary oil recovery, Welan Gum not only acts as a thickener to improve sweep efficiency but also works synergistically with other systems. Experimental results indicate that a foam-enhanced system containing 0.4% surfactant plus 0.1% Welan Gum achieves much higher EOR in heterogeneous reservoirs than single agents. It can plug large channels, mobilize residual oil, and achieve flow diversion.
Although Welan Gum exhibits excellent performance, viscosity loss under extremely high salinity remains a concern. Nanocomposite technology has therefore become a research hotspot. SiO₂ nanoparticles adsorb onto Welan Gum chains via hydrogen bonding, forming a three-dimensional network that can extend the working temperature limit to 220°C and reduce rock adsorption by 19%, thereby displacing crude oil more efficiently toward production wells.
In terms of key performance characteristics, Welan Gum demonstrates three major advantages. First, its thermal stability allows it to withstand temperatures up to 163°C with thermally reversible viscosity, making it suitable for high-temperature environments such as deep wells and heavy oil thermal recovery. Second, its salt tolerance enables it to perform in high-salinity conditions, with a 50% viscosity synergy when combined with SiO₂, solving polymer degradation issues in high-salinity reservoirs. Third, its strong pseudoplasticity provides low pumping resistance while maintaining high deep oil displacement efficiency.
5. Technical Challenges and Outlook
Despite its many advantages, Welan Gum also faces challenges in field applications, particularly regarding biodegradation resistance to specific microorganisms. Additionally, compared to some synthetic polymers, its cost remains a factor to consider for large-scale implementation. Future development directions focus on customized modification through chemical grafting (such as acrylamide graft copolymerization) and the development of Welan Gum–nanomaterial–surfactant ternary composite systems. Through multi-scale synergistic effects, these approaches aim to achieve further improvements in oil recovery under harsh reservoir conditions.
In the worlds of food and medicine, there exists a seemingly ordinary yet extraordinary substance—gelatin. Derived from natural raw materials, it possesses unique physicochemical properties that bring countless conveniences and delights to human life.
Welan Gum is an anionic extracellular polysaccharide produced by fermentation of Alcaligenes sp. In the petroleum industry, it is regarded as a next-generation biopolymer following xanthan gum, particularly suitable for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), drilling fluids, and fracturing fluids. Its molecular backbone consists of glucose, glucuronic acid, and rhamnose units, and its unique side-chain structure enables the formation of rigid helical conformations in solution. This molecular characteristic provides exceptional structural stability under extreme conditions, laying the foundation for its application in harsh reservoir environments.
In the large-scale production of baking fillings, frozen rice and flour products, and Chinese pastries, companies generally face a core challenge: finished products are soft and delicious when they leave the factory, but quickly revert to their original state after a few days of storage, becoming dry, hard, and crumbly, with a tough texture. After freezing, they are prone to cracking, dehydration, and spoilage, severely impacting product reputation and shelf life. Ordinary corn starch is extremely prone to aging and reversion, with extremely poor water retention and stability, making it completely unsuitable for the production requirements of long-term food storage. Addressing this industry pain point, E1422 acetylated distarch, a custom-designed modified corn starch, has become a core functional ingredient in fillings and pasta processing due to its excellent anti-aging and water-locking properties.
Crystal boba, also commercially known as crispy popping boba or konjac jelly balls, has become an indispensable texture ingredient in modern beverage and dessert industries. Different from traditional starch-based tapioca pearls, crystal boba is a thermally irreversible gel system constructed by natural hydrophilic colloids and dietary fiber, featuring zero starch, low calorie, and adjustable textural properties. It can present diverse mouthfeels ranging from chewy and soft to crisp and tender, perfectly compatible with hot and cold milk tea, coffee, yogurt and other beverage scenarios. With the increasingly refined market demand for food texture, single hydrocolloid materials can no longer meet the dual requirements of appearance, taste and stability. The compound application of microbial and plant-based hydrocolloids has become the core technical solution to realize customized high-performance crystal boba.
In the fields of food ingredients and industrial materials, carrageenan (also known as horngrass gum or euryale gum) is a natural, safe, and multifunctional hydrophilic colloid extracted from marine red algae (euryale, horngrass, and cypress algae). With its excellent thickening, gelling, stabilizing, and emulsifying properties, it has become an indispensable core ingredient in the global food industry, as well as in the daily chemical and pharmaceutical industries.
Making the perfect jam is both an art and a science. But when you scale up from kitchen batches to commercial production, pectin for jam becomes your most critical ingredient. The wrong choice leads to runny batches, syneresis (water separation), or grainy texture.
In industrialized food production, thickening, stabilization, and water retention have always been core requirements for food ingredients. Ordinary native starch is prone to problems such as aging and water separation, poor temperature resistance, and stratification and clumping after processing, making it unsuitable for the complex production processes and long-term storage requirements of modern food. E1442 (hydroxypropyl phosphate distarch), as the most versatile modified starch in the food industry, perfectly adapts to various harsh production environments thanks to its cross-linking and etherification dual modification process. This article will explain in detail, based on actual food application scenarios, why food production companies prioritize Nourisi ® E1442 modified starch.
Gelatin, as a natural polymer compound derived from animal collagen, plays a vital role in the yogurt industry. It is not only a legal food additive but also a source of protein with nutritional value. In the yogurt production process, gelatin is mainly used as a stabilizer, thickener, and gelling agent, playing an irreplaceable role in enhancing yogurt quality.
In the dynamic world of food production, xanthan gum has emerged as a versatile and indispensable ingredient, particularly in the realm of sauces. This natural polysaccharide, produced through the fermentation of sugars by the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris, offers a multitude of benefits that enhance the quality, texture, and flavor of various sauces.
Nourisi ® Sodium alginate, a polysaccharide extracted from natural brown algae, is becoming a core raw material for innovation in the global food industry due to its core advantages such as safety and non-toxicity, biodegradability, and controllable gelation. It provides efficient solutions for the three major trends of clean labeling, plant-based packaging, and sustainable packaging.
