Water-soluble polymers, which perform various useful functions such as thickening, gelling, flocculating, rheology modifying and stabilizing in any given application, are used for a wide variety of applications including food processing, water treatment, paper, enhanced oil and natural gas recovery, mineral processing, detergents, textiles, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, petroleum production, and surface coatings.
Water-soluble polymers can be categorized into the following three groups:
•Synthetic, which are produced by the polymerization of monomers synthesized from petroleum- or natural gas–derived raw materials
•Semisynthetic, which are manufactured by chemical derivatization of natural organic materials, generally polysaccharides such as cellulose
•Natural, including microbial-, plant- and animal-derived materials
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