WALOCEL™ C - Cellulose Gum and WALOCEL™ CRT are produced by chemically converting the naturally renewable cellulose macromolecule. We only use high-grade chemical pulp as our raw material. Alkali cellulose is in turn converted with chloroacetic acid or sodium chloroacetate to produce the desired products under controlled reaction conditions.

Cellulose is a naturally occurring biopolymer which can be altered chemically in many different ways. Glucose units linked in a linear chain formation make up its structure. For each glucose unit there are three hydroxyl groups which provide reactive centres where chemical reactions can take place.

Cellulose is insoluble in water. By etherifying the reactive centres, Dow Wolff Cellulosics transforms the raw material into the sodium carboxymethylcellulose products WALOCEL™ C - Cellulose Gum and WALOCEL™ CRT, which are soluble in hot or cold water.

By controlling the reaction conditions it is possible to regulate the degree of etherification very precisely. The degree of substitution (DS) is stated as a measure of the degree of etherification:

The degree of substitution indicates the average number of etherified hydroxyl groups attached to a glucose unit. As a glucose unit has three hydroxyl groups available for conversion, the maximum obtainable degree of substitution DS = 3.

The degree of substitution varies with WALOCEL CRT grades between 0.65 and 1.45. The technologies we employ enable us to precision-modify the rheological profile of the CMC grades: from smooth-flowing aqueous CMC solutions to products which form stable gels.