Guar the use of guar gum in the hydraulic fracturing (fracking) extraction of oil and shale gas, the demand has increased substantially. Only 10% of the Indian production stays within the country and the remaining 90% is exported for shale gas and oil industries. Consequently, many former cotton or wheat fields are converted into guar fields as production costs are also lower. But the increase of guar gum prices also has other reasons. Guar The Guar or cluster bean, with the botanical name Cyamopsis tetragonoloba, is an annual legume and the source of guar gum. It is also known as Gavar,
Guar gum gum shows a clear low shear plateau on the flow curve and is strongly shear thinning. The rheology of guar gum is typical for a random coil polymer. It does not show the very high low shear plateau viscosities seen with more rigid polymer chains such as xanthan gum. It is very thixotropic above 1% concentration, but below 0.3%, the thixotropy is slight. Guar gum shows viscosity synergy with xanthan gum. Guar gum and micellar casein mixtures can be slightly thixotropic if a biphase system forms. One use of guar gum is as a thickening agent in foods and medicines