Aqualon™ (Blanose™, Bondwell™) sodium carboxymethylcellulose
Since its commercial introduction in the United States in 1946, Aqualon (Blanose, Bondwell) sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) has found use in an ever-increasing number of applications. The many important functions provided by this polymer make it a preferred thickener, suspending aid, stabilizer, binder and film-former in a growing variety of applications.
The wide range of viscosity and substitution types available for the highly purified grades and the less highly purified technical grades of CMC continues to expand the uses for this product.
Many of applications do not require the use of the highly purified grade, and a technical grade of CMC is available for certain applications.
Ashland's chemists and engineers continue to tailor-make various grades and types to meet the needs of specific customers and industries requiring water-soluble polymers.
Aqualon (Blanose, Bondwell) sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) is utilized in multiple markets including adhesives and sealants, advanced ceramics, building and construction, ceramics, pottery and porcelain, commercial and institutional, housewares and consumer, medical, metal castings and foundry, mining and extraction, pulp and paper, textiles and tobacco.
Ashland provides cellulose gum under the trade names Aqualon, Blanose and Bondwell depending on the region in which we serve you.
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Product Availability
- Asia Pacific
- Europe, Middle East, Africa, India
- Latin America and South America
- North America
Technical InformationLook here for technical information about this product.
CMC is a cellulose ether, produced by reacting alkali cellulose with sodium monochloroacetate under rigidly controlled conditions.
The top figure shows the structure of the cellulose molecule; it is visualized as a polymer chain composed of repeating cellobiose units (in brackets). These, in turn, are composed of two anhydroglucose units (ß-glucopyranose residues). In this structure, n is the number of anhydroglucose units (which are joined through 1,4 glucosidic linkages), or the degree of polymerization, of cellulose.
Each anhydroglucose unit contains three hydroxyl groups. By substituting carboxymethyl groups for some of the hydrogens of these hydroxyls, as shown in the bottom figure, sodium carboxymethylcellulose is obtained. The average number of hydroxyl groups substituted per anhydroglucose unit is known as the “degree of substitution,” or DS. If all three hydroxyls are replaced, the maximum theoretical DS of 3.0 (impossible in practice) results.
