Effects of Temperature on the Hydroxy Ethyl Cellulose Solution


Hydroxy ethyl cellulose is a kind of white or light yellow powder, odorless, tasteless and nontoxic. Moreover, its advantageous characteristics are quite prominent. For example, its water solubility, salt tolerance, and so on are the reasons why we use it. However, in the use of hydroxy ethyl cellulose, be sure to pay attention to the temperature control, because the temperature of hydroxy ethyl cellulose has much to do with the liquid state.


Hydroxy ethyl cellulose has water solubility and thickening capacity. It can be dissolved in cold water to form a transparent viscous solution. As for its dissolution in organic solvents, since it contains a certain amount of the hydrophobic methoxy, hydroxy ethyl cellulose is soluble in some organic solvents, and also in the solvents of the mixture of water and organics.


Salt Resistance

As hydroxy ethyl cellulose is a non-ionic and non-polymer electrolyte, it is relatively stable in the aqueous solutions of metal salts or organic electrolytes. The aqueous solution of Hydroxy Ethyl Cellulose has surface activity, making it have emulsification, protective colloids and relative stability.


Thermal Gelation

When heated to a certain temperature, the aqueous solution of the product can become opaque, precipitate, and make the solution lose the viscosity. But after gradually cooled, it will transform into the original state of solution. The temperature occurring in the coagulation and precipitation depends on the type of the product, the solution concentration and the heating rate. It is precisely because of its excellent features that make it have a wide application in the in the textile, food processing, papermaking, and pesticide industries.


Important Properties

Hydroxy ethyl cellulose can be used as a non-ionic surface active agent. In addition to thickening, suspending, adhesion, emulsifying, film-forming, dispersing, water-retaining and providing protective colloid properties, but also has the following properties.


1. Hydroxy Ethyl Cellulose is soluble in hot or cold water, does not precipitate by heat or boiling, and enables it to have a wide range of solubility and viscosity characteristics, as well as non-thermal gelation;


  1. 1.  It’s non-ionic itself and can coexist with a wide range of other water-soluble polymers, surfactants, and salts, a fine colloidal thickener for the solution containing a high concentration of electrolytes;


3. Its water retention capacity is twice as that of methyl cellulose, and it has better flow-regulating property;


4. Compared with the recognized methyl cellulose and hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose, Hydroxy Ethyl Cellulose has the worst dispersion capacity but the strongest protective colloid.

Read more :Problems in the Application of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose