EP3728336A1

EP3728336A1 - Method for modifying polysaccharide material by sequenced homogeneous chemical functionalisation

Info

Publication number: EP3728336A1
Application number: EP18842804.9A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Solène BOCL; Vincent Wiatz; Thomas GUGLIELMETTI; Joffrey ATTARD
Original assignee: Roquette Freres SA
Current assignee: Roquette Freres SA
Priority date: 2017-12-22
Filing date: 2018-12-21
Publication date: 2020-10-28
Also published as: FR3075799B1; WO2019122787A1; US20230331873A1; US20200339705A1; CA3086380A1; JP7366027B2; CN111655738A; MX2020006579A; BR112020012701A2; JP2021507969A; FR3075799A1

Abstract

The present invention concerns a method for modifying a polysaccharide material, preferably an amylaceous material, involving a first step of homogeneous solubilisation of said polysaccharide material in an aqueous solvent, followed by a step of homogeneous chemical functionalisation comprising at least one non-crosslinking chemical modification, or at least one crosslinking chemical modification, or a sequence of at least one non-crosslinking chemical modification and at least one crosslinking chemical modification. Secondly, the present invention concerns a modified polysaccharide material, in particular obtained by the method according to the invention, characterised in that it has a novel distribution of the chemical substituents attached to the hydroxyl functions of the anhydroglucose units of said polysaccharide material. The novel starches can be used as organic adjuvants for dry mortars made from cement or made from gypsum, in particular as a binder for a dry mortar made from cement or as a thickening agent for a mortar made from plaster. . . .

Description

Process for modifying polysaccharide material by sequential homogeneous chemical functionalization

Field of invention

The present invention relates to novel modified starches useful as organic adjuvants with binding and thickening properties, for dry mortars, cement mortars, plaster casts.

Background of the invention

Physically and chemically modified starches are of great use in a large number of fields such as, among others, paper, plastics, water treatment additives, building materials, pharmaceuticals, cosmetic, human or animal nutrition. It is known that the modifications made on the starch give it adjustable properties of use through the physical modification process and through the chemical nature of the chemical modifications.

Physical functionalisation is generally referred to when the starch acquires useful properties through a mechanical and / or thermal treatment process; and chemical functionalization when they are acquired by substitution of hydroxyl starch by molecules carrying functional groups not naturally present on the starch.

The developments of the chemical functionalization of starches are essentially focused on the addition of an ever greater quantity of chemical substituents on starch, that is to say on the attainment of high degrees of substitution, and this in bypassing or managing the high viscosity of the aqueous starch solutions resulting from the solubilization of the starch during its chemical modification. By way of illustration, as soon as the degree of substitution reaches a minimum value, dependent on the botanical origin of the starch and the chemical nature of the substituents, which can range from 0.06 (for the carboxyalkylations) to more than 0 , 2 or even 0.5 (for hydroxyalkylations), the starch develops a high to very high viscosity, proportional to the mass content of starch, ranging from 10,000 mPa.s to more than 100,000 mPa.s. Bypassing the problem of high viscosity has mainly consisted in the implementation of aqueous suspensions of granular starch in the presence of anti-swelling agents or anti-solubilization of starch grains, such as sodium salts. The chemical modification is then carried out on the granular starch, which retains its granular structure throughout the modification: it will be called chemical functionalization in the granular phase. Only the surface or outer layers of the starch grains are accessible to the modifying reagents when the starch is granular. Thus the chemical modifications are essentially concentrated on a fraction of the mass of starch. With respect to all the mass of starch introduced into modification, there is clearly a heterogeneous distribution of the chemical functions introduced: we will speak of heterogeneous chemical functionalization. The starches thus modified are generally converted into aqueous solutions before being used, mainly in order to release the binder properties of the starch.

When it can not be avoided, the high viscosity of the aqueous starch solutions is managed by cross-linking the granular starch (US 3,014,901, US 3,438,913, US 2,853,484) or by fluidifying the starch by acid hydrolysis not destructuring the starch grain, and this before the solubilization of the starch begins. These two modifications of the starch cause changes in the macromolecular structure of the starch, in terms of molecular weight and / or branching of the polymer chains, and in the structure of the intermolecular network between the macromolecules constituting the starch. Crosslinking increases the molecular weight by creating intermolecular bonds, whereas thinning decreases it by breaking down osidic bonds.

In both cases, during chemical modifications of these crosslinked or fluidized granular starches, part of the chemical modification takes place on a granular starch, until the degree of substitution reaches the value where the starch solubilizes, then is continued until reaching the targeted degree of substitution. The solubilization that occurs during such chemical modification generally leads to an aqueous dispersion of starch, or starch paste, in very varied conditions such as: intact starch grain, partially inflated starch grain, 'starch fully swollen, swollen grain fragments, swollen starch aggregates, dissolved starch macromolecules and precipitated retrograded starch. We will speak of chemical functionalization in mixed phase, that is to say that the state of the starch is intermediate between a granular starch and a solubilized starch.

Thus, a significant, or at least significant, part of the chemical modification is located on the outer surface or layers of starch grains or starch grain fragments, which is only a fraction of the mass theoretically available starch for modification. As with chemical modification in the granular phase, the chemical modification in the mixed phase leads to a heterogeneous distribution of the chemical functions on the mass of starch. Moreover, in both cases, it should be noted that the only purpose of modifying the macromolecular structure of the starch is to reduce the viscosity of the aqueous starch solution so as to make it easy to handle, and does not contribute to the property of use sought.

In the field of gypsum or cement base mortars, the modified starches are used as organic additives to improve the application properties of these mortars such as the expiry time, the rest time, the practical duration of use , open time, wetting power, slip resistance, adjustability; or the final performance, such as adhesion, deformability, transverse deformation, or breaking strength.

In order to satisfy these properties or performances, the starches are generally chemically modified according to modifications to individual values of degree of substitution higher than 0.2 and reaching even 0.8; which corresponds to total values of degree of substitution between 1 and 1.5. These modifications are essentially hydroxyalkylations, such as hydroxypropylation; carboxyalkylations, such as carboxymethylation; and finally crosslinking, such as those made with sodium trimetaphosphate.

To achieve these degrees of substitution, and because of the average reaction yields, of the order of 60-80%, the granular phase or mixed phase processes must implement excess amounts of reagent material. In addition, secondary reactions transform the reagents of modifications into unwanted products, which represent, at best material losses generating extra production costs, at worst impurities negatively impacting the properties of use, and of course waste to be treated, which can represent a pollution of the environment. In the case of hydroxypropylation, a large part of the propylene oxide is thus lost to ethylene glycol and polyethylene glycol, and concerning the carbomethylation, a major secondary product is propanediol.

An ideal modified starch would therefore be a starch with the right amount of chemical substituents, in order to reduce losses and pollution, while maintaining the properties of use. This problem is solved by the method object of the present invention.

Summary of the invention

In contrast to heterogeneous or mixed phase chemical modifications, the object of the present invention is a method of chemical modification on a starch which is perfectly or substantially completely solubilized, in order to distribute the chemical modifications homogeneously over the entire mass of starch. available. This functionalisation according to the invention will be described as homogeneous chemical functionalization.

Thanks to this homogeneous chemical functionalization, new starches are obtained. They can be characterized by a measurement of the positions of the chemical substituents on the anhydroglucose units. Such a measurement can be carried out by proton nuclear magnetic resonance.

The Applicant has surprisingly and unexpectedly observed that by carrying out a homogeneous chemical functionalization according to the sequence consisting of a first homogenous chemical functionalization by chemical modifications of the etherification or esterification type which does not consist in a crosslinking, and followed by a second chemical functionalization. homogeneous consisting of crosslinking, modified liquid or solid starches can be prepared so as to have satisfactory thickening, binding or flocculating properties, even improved, despite lower degrees of substitution than the modified starches prepared according to the granular phase or mixed phase processes of the state of the art.

In addition, by completely solubilizing the polysaccharide material to form a perfectly homogeneous aqueous solution, in a controlled manner, further improvement is possible.

Process :

A first object of the present invention is a method for modifying a polysaccharide material consisting of an ordered sequence of at least two modifications: the first is a perfectly homogeneous, preferably complete, solubilization of the polysaccharide material in water ; the second is a homogeneous chemical functionalization, which consists of at least one non-crosslinking chemical modification, or at least one crosslinking chemical modification, or a combination of at least one of these two chemical modifications.

By "homogeneous chemical functionalization" is meant a chemical modification process on a starch which is perfectly, in other words totally, solubilized, in order to distribute the chemical modifications homogeneously over the entire mass of available starch.

The present invention relates to a process for modifying a polysaccharide material, preferably comprising anhydroglucose units, comprising a substantially complete, preferably complete solubilization of this polysaccharide material, and a homogeneous chemical functionalization of the solubilized polysaccharide material, characterized in that than

at. Solubilization is performed prior to chemical functionalization, b. The functionalization comprises at least one chemical modification selected from the non-crosslinking chemical modifications, or from the crosslinking chemical modifications, or a sequence of at least one non-crosslinking chemical modification and at least one crosslinking chemical modification.

The process for modifying a polysaccharide material according to the invention may also be characterized in that the solubilization is carried out by heating in a stirred tank in the presence of a base.

The process for modifying a polysaccharide material according to the invention may also be characterized in that the homogeneous chemical functionalization comprises at least one etherification or at least one esterification, or at least one etherification and at least one esterification.

According to a variant of the process according to the invention, the etherifications are carried out before the esterifications. The etherifications of the process according to the invention may be chosen from hydroxyalkylations, carboxyalkylations or cationizations.

The process for modifying a polysaccharide material according to the invention may also be characterized in that the hydroxyalkylation is a hydroxypropylation, and it is carried out until a degree of substitution of from 0.05 to 2 is reached, preferentially from 0.1 to 1, and most preferably from 0.15 to 0.6, more preferably from 0.15 to 0.5.

The process for modifying a polysaccharide material according to the invention can also be characterized in that the functionalization comprises a non-crosslinking chemical modification, a hydroxyalkylation, preferably a hydroxypropylation, carried out until a polysaccharide material having a degree of substitution understood is obtained. between 0.05 and 2, preferably between 0.1 and 1 and most preferably between 0.15 and 0.6, more preferably from 0.15 to 0.5.

The process for modifying a polysaccharide material according to the invention may also be characterized in that the functionalization comprises a second non-crosslinking chemical modification, a carboxyalkylation, preferably a carboxymethylation, carried out until obtaining a polysaccharide material having a degree of substitution of between 0.03 and 2, preferentially between 0.03 and 1, and most preferably between 0, 03 and 0.3, and more preferably 0.03 to 0.2.

The process for modifying a polysaccharide material according to the invention may also be characterized in that the carboxyalkylation is a carboxymethylation, and it is carried out to reach a degree of substitution ranging from 0.03 to 2, preferably from 0.03 to 1, and most preferably 0.03 to 0.3, and more preferably 0.03 to 0.2.

The method for modifying a polysaccharide material according to the invention may also be characterized in that the esterifications are chosen from carboxyalkylations.

The method for modifying a polysaccharide material according to the invention can also be characterized in that the homogeneous chemical functionalization comprises at least one chemical crosslinking modification with a short-chain crosslinking agent (or short-chain crosslinking agent), or an agent long-chain crosslinking agent (or long-chain crosslinking agent), or a long-distance crosslinking system, or a combination of at least two of these three types of crosslinking agents.

The process for modifying a polysaccharide material according to the invention may also be characterized in that the long-distance crosslinking system consists of at least one polyhydroxylated polymer and at least one short-chain crosslinking agent.

The method for modifying a polysaccharide material according to the invention may also be characterized in that the short-chain crosslinking agent (or short-chain crosslinking agent) is a polyfunctional molecular reagent having from 8 to 30 atoms, and is at a dose ranging from 100 ppm to 10,000 ppm, preferably from 500 ppm to 5000 ppm. The process for modifying a polysaccharide material according to the invention may also be characterized in that the short-chain crosslinking agent is sodium trimetaphosphate.

The process for modifying a polysaccharide material according to the invention may also be characterized in that the chemical functionalization comprises a third and last chemical modification chosen from the cross-linking chemical modifications.

The method for modifying a polysaccharide material according to the invention can also be characterized in that the homogeneous chemical functionalization comprises at least a third and last chemical crosslinking modification with a short-chain crosslinking agent, and in that the crosslinking agent at short range is a polyfunctional molecular reagent having from 8 to 30 atoms, preferably sodium trimetaphosphate, used at a dose of between 100 ppm and 10,000 ppm, preferably between 500 ppm and 5000 ppm.

The process for modifying a polysaccharide material according to the invention may also be characterized in that it consists of: firstly, a hydroxypropylation, preferably at a degree of substitution ranging from 0.15 to 0.5; secondly, carboxymethylation, preferably at a degree of substitution ranging from 0.05 to 0.2; and third, short-range crosslinking with sodium trimetaphosphate, preferably at a dose of from 500 ppm to 5000 ppm.

The process for modifying a polysaccharide material according to the invention can also be characterized in that it comprises a final step of placing in a solid form comprising drying, grinding and sieving.

The process for modifying a polysaccharide material according to the invention can also be characterized in that the polysaccharide material consists of minus one native starch, or a mixture of at least two native starches of different botanical origins.

Product:

A second subject of the present invention is a modified polysaccharide material comprising anhydroglucose units, preferably a modified starch, completely soluble in water, the hydroxyl functions of said anhydroglucose units being substituted by at least one hydroxyalkyl chemical group and characterized in that the hydroxyalkyl groups substituting the hydroxyl functions are distributed as follows:

at most 68%, preferably at most 65%, very preferably at most 64% at position 2,

And / or at least 15%, preferably at least 17%, very preferably at least 17.5% at the 3-position,

And / or at least 15%, preferably at least 17%, very preferably at least 18% at the 6-position,

The sum of the% of hydroxyalkyl groups substituting the hydroxyl functions being equal to 100% and these% being measured by proton NMR.

According to one variant of the polysaccharide material modified according to the invention, preferably a modified starch, the hydroxyl functions of said anhydroglucose units are substituted by at least one carboxyalkyl chemical group and characterized in that the carboxyalkyl groups substituting the hydroxyl functions are distributed from the following way:

at least 75.5%, preferably at least 76.5% at the 2-position, and / or at most 20%, preferably at most 19% at the 3-position,

And / or at least 4%, preferably at least 5% in position 6,

The sum of the% of the carboxyalkyl groups substituting the hydroxyl functions being equal to 100% and these% being measured by proton NMR. The invention relates to a modified starch in powder form, soluble in cold water, preferably at least 95% amorphous, more preferably at least 98% amorphous, and most preferably totally amorphous, characterized in that it is obtained by a method according to the invention.

The invention relates to a modified starch obtained according to the process according to the invention, characterized in that it has a mean diameter by volume, measured by dry laser diffraction, ranging from 10 μm to 1 mm, preferably ranging from 50 μm. at 500 pm.

The invention also relates to the use of these novel starches as additives for building materials, preferably gypsum base or cement base materials.

An object of the present invention is the use of at least one starch obtained by the process according to the invention as a binder in a cement mortar.

An object of the present invention is the use of at least one starch obtained by the process according to the invention as an organic adjuvant in a dry mortar composition, preferably dry mortar for tile adhesive, and most preferably for adhesive mortar. ceramic tile.

An object of the present invention is the use of at least one starch obtained by the process according to the invention as an organic adjuvant in a cement mortar adhesive, characterized in that the ratio of the mass of water to the mass cement is greater than 0.60, preferably greater than or equal to 0.70.

An object of the present invention is a dry mortar comprising the following ingredients:

• One or more hydraulic binders,

• One or more agents,

• One or more thickeners, • One or more redispersive powders,

• One or more modified starches,

characterized in that said modified starch or starches are according to the process according to the invention.

An object of the present invention is a dry mortar comprising in percentage by dry weight:

• From 20 to 45% of hydraulic binder,

• From 50 to 70% of agents of charge,

0.2 to 1% of thickening agent,

0.5 to 5% of redispersive powder,

• 0.01 to 1% modified starches,

characterized in that said modified starch or starches are according to the process according to the invention, the sum of the% being equal to 100%.

An object of the present invention is the use of at least one starch obtained by the process according to the invention in a gypsum-based mortar, preferably in a casting plaster or in plaster for plasterboard.

An object of the present invention is the use of at least one starch obtained by the process according to the invention as a thickener in a gypsum mortar.

Detail of the invention

The subject of the present invention is a process for modifying a polysaccharide material called a "sequenced homogeneous functionalization method", in order to obtain a chemically modified polysaccharide composition, optionally in the form of a powder, which is preferentially amorphous. A second subject of the invention is the modified polysaccharide material thus obtained. A final object of the invention is the use of this novel modified polysaccharide material as an organic additive in dry mortars. base gypsum or cement base, especially as a binder and thickener in such mortars.

The subject of the present invention is also a polysaccharide material having specific substituent group distributions. This polysaccharide material can be obtained by the process that is the subject of the present application.

The method of modification in the glue phase comprises a first step consisting of at least one hydrothermal modification of the so-called "base" polysaccharide material to solubilize completely, or substantially completely, the latter in an aqueous phase. By "base", the applicant understands the polysaccharide material which is subjected to the modification process according to the invention. This solubilization is conducted so as to obtain a perfectly homogeneous aqueous solution. According to a variant of the invention, the basic polysaccharide material consists of one or more native starches and / or native starch derivatives obtained by physical modification of one or more starches.

Then, during a second step, the solubilized polysaccharide material is chemically modified according to a homogeneous chemical functionalization comprising at least one non-crosslinking chemical functionalization, or at least one crosslinking chemical functionalization, or at least one non-crosslinking chemical functionalization and one at least one non-crosslinking chemical functionalization. less a crosslinking chemical functionalization. The crosslinking chemical functionalization can be carried out with at least one short or long-distance crosslinking agent, or with at least one crosslinking system consisting of a short-distance crosslinking agent and a polyhydroxylated polymer.

Finally, the modified polysaccharide material is converted into a substantially amorphous powder by a drying operation, and optionally grinding. The powder thus obtained is cold-soluble. When prepared from starch, preferably native starch, the starch powder modified according to the process of the invention is an excellent organic binder useful for dry mortars based on cement or gypsum base, and plaster. In cement-based mortars, it provides excellent slip resistance, equivalent to the best commercial products available. In plasterboard or plaster mortars, it provides good resistance to spreading and allows for acceptable core reinforcement.

Compared to commercial products such as Amitrolit ^® 8850 from Emsland or Casucol ^® 301 or Casucol ^® Fixl from Avebe, the starches modified according to the process of the invention have lower degrees of substitution, while having properties of maintained or even improved. These lower degrees of substitution imply a process that consumes less toxic raw materials, including less alkylene oxides, such as propylene oxide, and rejects less unwanted secondary products, such as ethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol , or propanediol. The carbon footprint of the product according to the invention is significantly improved over those of current commercial products.

The state of the art refers generally to the possibility of carrying out several substitutions of different chemical groups on the same basic starch, but does not reveal any particular combinations, and even more so, no particular combination to achieve binding functionalities, thickening and flocculant.

Without being limited by theory, the Applicant believes that the excellent slip resistance properties result from a homogeneous statistical distribution of the substituent chemical groups on the gelatinized starch chains, compared with products of the state of the art. This is probably possible by the complete and homogeneous, or substantially complete and homogeneous, solubilization of native starch prior to chemical substitutions.

Basic polysaccharide material

The process according to the invention can be applied to polysaccharides in general. The term "basic polysaccharide material" refers to all types of polysaccharides that can be engaged in the process according to the invention. According to a variant of the process of the invention, this basic polysaccharide material is a starchy material, that is to say a material consisting of native starch and / or of native starch derivatives obtained by physical modifications.

The basic starchy material may consist of at least one native starch, which may be a cereal starch, such as wheat, corn, waxy corn, amylopectin-rich maize, rice; legume starch, such as peas or soybeans; a tuber starch, such as potato.

A basic amylaceous starch variant may be a mixture of at least two starches of the same botanical variety, or a mixture of at least two starches of different botanical varieties, such as cereal / legume, cereal / tuber, turb leguminous.

The varieties of these starches rich in amylopectin, that is to say containing more than 95% of amylopectin, or rich in amylose, that is to say containing more than 95% of amylose, may also constitute the basic starchy material.

Another variation of basic starchy material may be a mixture of at least two starches of different amylopectin or amylose contents, such as rich in amylopectin / amylose rich.

Another variation of basic starchy material consists of at least one native starch and at least one native starch depolymerized by at least one chemical, enzymatic or thermal treatment. The native heat-treated starch may be a white dextrin, a yellow dextrin or a dextrin called "British gum". Enzymatically treated native starch may be maltodextrin. The native chemically treated starch may be a native starch fluidized by acid treatment. The native starch and the starch derivative may be of different botanical origin.

Other basic polysaccharide material variants are polysaccharide hydrocolloids such as native cellulose, guar gum, xanthan gum, cassia gum, carrageenan, used individually or in admixture. Stages of the modification process

Homogeneous solubilization by hydrothermal modification

The first step of the modification process according to the invention consists of a homogeneous solubilization of the basic polysaccharide material by at least one hydrothermal modification, to obtain a homogeneous aqueous solution of polysaccharide material, free from any granular structure or grain residues.

This first step must be carried out prior to the subsequent homogeneous chemical functionalization, that is to say before all the subsequent chemical modifications, in order to guarantee equivalent accessibility of the entire mass of polysaccharide material.

Without being bound by theory, the Applicant believes that all, or substantially all, the substituent hydroxyl groups carried by the polysaccharide material, are available and accessible to the chemical reagents equivalent to one another. The resistance to transfer of material so that the reactants access the hydroxyls is thus equivalent for all the available substituble hydroxyls.

According to a variant of the invention, the first step of the process is a hydrothermal modification of the basic starchy material, which allows the transformation of the physical state of this material, passing from a granular structure to a hydrocolloid structure, under action of the temperature in an aqueous medium, optionally at a basic pH. This destruction of the granular structure of the starch is obtained by bursting the starch grains by the techniques well known to those skilled in the art: steaming in a nozzle, thermal treatment in a basic medium in stirred tank, and that of discontinuous or continuous manner.

The hydrothermal modification converts the starchy material to a substantially fully solubilized state. This means that an optical microscope observation of a sample of this solution under polarized light, will show the total or almost total absence of the birefringence crosses characteristic of the starch grains, as well as the total absence, or almost total, of "ghosts" of grains partially inflated or burst. If the mass content of dry polysaccharide material exceeds a value typically between 1% and 5% of the total mass of aqueous solution of polysaccharide material, solubilization leads to the formation of a gel. According to a preferred embodiment, the basic starchy material is solubilized in water at a mass content of starch-based starch material ranging from 5% to 60% of the total mass of aqueous dispersion, preferably ranging from 20% to 40%. For these basic contents of starchy material, the hydrothermal modification provides a gel of starchy material: it is a gelatinization.

According to another preferred embodiment, the solubilization is carried out by heating an aqueous dispersion of base starchy material in a stirred heat exchanger, such as a stirred double-jacketed tank, at a temperature greater than or equal to the temperature of gelatinization of the starchy material plus 5 ° C, preferably 10 ° C. In addition, the solubilization is catalyzed by the addition of a base at a content greater than or equal to 0.5% of dry basis relative to the dry starch material, denoted dry / dry, preferably greater than or equal to 1% dry. /dry. The base may be sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, or any other salt providing hydroxide ions.

At the end of the solubilization, the colloidal solution of native starchy material obtained generally has a Brookefield viscosity, measured at 20 ° C. and 20 rpm, ranging from 10,000 mPa.s to 100,000 mPa.s, preferably 50,000 mPa. .s at 75,000 mPa.s.

Chemical functionalization by hydroxyl substitution

The solubilized native polysaccharide material is then converted into homogeneously chemically modified polysaccharide material. This step, described as homogeneous chemical functionalization, consists of the chemical substitution of the hydroxyl functional groups, maintaining a perfect or almost perfect mixture of the reaction mass. The chemical substitution reactions are chosen from etherifications, esterifications and radical grafting, consisting of a chemical functionalization, and especially, not consisting of a crosslinking, or in a cleavage of the backbone bonds of the polysaccharides constituting the polysaccharide material.

The purpose of the homogeneous chemical functionalization is to fix nonionic or ionic functional groups, in a uniform distribution on the mass of polysaccharide material, and a fortiori on the macromolecular chains constituting the polysaccharide material.

The functional groups provided by the chemical substituents are alcohols, acids, amines or ammonium alkyls. In a manner known per se, these functional groups allow interactions by hydrogen bonding or electrostatic bonding, between the polysaccharide material and organic substrates, such as cellulose or its derivatives, or mineral substrates, such as lime particles, silica, or alumina, such as particles of limestone, clay, cement or gypsum.

Surprisingly, however, the homogeneous chemical functionalization according to the invention gives the polysaccharide material a better ability to interact with these substrates. A smaller amount of substituents makes it possible to obtain a result equivalent to the products of the state of the art containing a higher amount of substituent.

The homogeneous distribution of the chemical functions introduced on the polysaccharide material is allowed by the state of perfect or quasi-perfect mixture of the reaction mass. This state of mixing allows the majority of the reagents to be dispersed in the reaction mass before being able to react with the polysaccharide material.

The reagents useful for homogeneous chemical functionalization are monofunctional reagents capable of forming an ether or ester bond with an alcohol functional group. By "monofunctional", the Applicant understands that the reagent is a molecule, or macromolecule, carrying at least one chemical function, only one of which is capable of reacting with an alcohol function of the polysaccharide material, with or without catalysis. The homogeneous chemical functionalization does not induce modification of the order of magnitude of the molecular weight of the polysaccharide material.

In general, these reactions can be performed in any order. According to a variant of the process of the invention, the etherification (s) are carried out before the esterification (s).

The levels of reagents to be used are chosen so that the resulting polysaccharide material has the desired values of degrees of substitution for each type of substituents according to the invention. Those skilled in the art will be able to adjust the reaction conditions in order to obtain these degrees of substitution.

Stirring conditions for a perfect or near-perfect mixture

By almost perfect mixing, the Applicant hears mixing conditions mainly characterized by a good macromixture, that is to say a distribution of the reaction material homogeneously in the reaction volume, and in particular without dead zone or stagnation zone. . Such a mixture is characterized in that the concentration of a compound has almost the same value at any point of the reactor.

Additionally, a perfect blend also has a good micromix, that is, a good blend within the circulation zones created by the macromix.

Those skilled in chemical reaction engineering know how to achieve this state of mixing with stirring devices suitable for viscous media. The applicant refers to reference publications of the collection of "engineering techniques" such as "Mixture of pasty media complex rheology. Theory »J 3 860 and« Mixture of pasty media of complex rheology. Practice 3,861, both authors H. Desplanches and J-L.Chevalier.

In all generalities, obtaining a perfect mixture is possible by means of a suitable stirring device and a sufficient mixing time. However, the cost of such devices or mixing time may be too high for industrial operation to be viable. It is often enough to reach a almost perfect mixture in which a major proportion of the reaction mass is perfectly mixed, and a minor proportion of this reaction mass is not mixed.

Non-crosslinking homogeneous chemical functionalization

Etherications

According to a variant of the process of the invention, the etherifications are chosen from hydroxyalkylations, carboxyalkylations, or cationizations from nitrogenous reagents, and these reactions are carried out on a polysaccharide material which is a starchy material.

The hydroxyalkylations useful in the invention are those whose function is to introduce carbon chains with a length ranging from 2 to 10 carbon atoms, preferably from 3 to 5 carbon atoms, and carrying at least one alcohol function, preferentially from hydroxypropylation or hydroxyethylation.

Generally, the hydroxypropyl ether functional groups are introduced on the starch by reacting it with propylene oxide, or epoxypropane, optionally in the presence of a basic catalyst, such as sodium hydroxide. According to the invention, the hydroxypropylated starch has a degree of substitution based on hydroxypropyl ranging from 0.05 to 2, preferably from 0.1 to 1, and most preferably ranging from 0.15 to 0.6, and more preferentially ranging from from 0.15 to 0.5.

The carboxyalkylations useful in the invention are those which make it possible to introduce carbon chains with a length ranging from 2 to 10 carbon atoms, preferably from 3 to 5 carbon atoms, and carrying at least one carboxylic acid function, preferentially carboxymethylation.

Usually, carboxymethyl ester functions are introduced into the starch by reacting it with monochloroacetic acid or with sodium monochloroacetate, optionally in the presence of a basic catalyst, such as sodium hydroxide. According to the invention, the starch thus carboxymethylated has a degree carboxymethyl substitution ratio ranging from 0.05 to 2, preferably from 0.05 to 1, and most preferably from 0.05 to 0.3, and more preferably from 0.05 to 0.2.

The cationizations useful for the invention are those made from nitrogen-containing reagents based on tertiary amines or quaternary ammonium salts. Among these reagents, 2-dialkylaminochlorethane hydrochlorides such as 2-diethylaminochloroethane hydrochloride or glycidyltrimethylammonium halides and their halohydrins, such as N- (3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl) -trimethylammonium chloride, are preferred, the latter being preferred.

Esterifications

According to one variant of the process according to the invention, the esterifications are chosen from those carried out with a reagent, called an esterification agent, comprising at least 2 carboxylic acid functions, and are carried out on a polysaccharide material which is a starchy material.

The esterification agents may thus be the polycarboxylic acids, or the carboxylic acid halides, or the polyacid anhydrides, or the sulfonated derivatives of these acids. Among these esterification agents, preference will be given to those having a carbon number ranging from 2 to 16, most preferably ranging from 2 to 5.

Carboxylic polyacids useful for the invention are linear dicarboxylic acids having a carbon number ranging from 2 to 10, preferably ranging from 3 to 5, among which ethanedioic acid, propanedioic acid, or butanedioic acid are preferred. . The carboxylic acid halides useful in the invention are acetic acid chloride, propanoic acid chloride. The polyacid anhydrides useful in the invention may be phthalic anhydride, succinic anhydride, or maleic anhydride.

Seamless chemical functionalization crosslinking

The homogeneous chemical crosslinking functionalization of the polysaccharide material consists of a crosslinking by at least one crosslinking agent under agitation conditions ensuring a perfect or almost perfect mixture. According to one embodiment, the crosslinking agent is a short-range crosslinking agent: it will be called short-range crosslinking. According to another embodiment, the crosslinking agent is a long-distance crosslinking agent, or a long-distance crosslinking system: this will be referred to as long-distance crosslinking. Finally, according to a last embodiment, a combination of short and long-distance crosslinking is carried out by combining at least one short-chain crosslinking agent and at least one long-distance crosslinking agent.

The crosslinking agents that are useful for the invention are polyfunctional reagents, that is to say molecules or macromolecules carrying at least two chemical functions, at least two of which are capable of reacting each with a hydroxyl of the polysaccharide material, with or without catalysis, to form an ether or ester bond.

In general, the crosslinking is an etherification or esterification leading to a change in the order of magnitude of the molecular weight of the polysaccharide material, creating bonds between the macromolecular chains of the polysaccharide material. It is generally performed to modify the viscosity or texture of a polysaccharide material.

According to the invention, the crosslinking makes it possible to join the intermolecularly functionalized polysaccharide chains, by creating intermolecular bridges randomly or homogeneously distributed on the polysaccharide chains, and according to the long-distance crosslinking variants, having chosen lengths.

The crosslinking according to the invention is characterized in that it is carried out under agitation conditions ensuring a perfect, or almost perfect, mixture of all the material introduced into the reactor, called the reaction mass. The state of perfect or near-perfect mixing is the same as that in which the homogeneous chemical functionalization presented above is carried out. According to one variant, this perfect or almost perfect mixture is reached at the moment when the reaction begins. According to another variant, it is reached before the reaction starts.

In theory, the perfect or near perfect mixture should ensure a homogeneous distribution of crosslinking bridges on the macromolecular chains of the polysaccharide material. Without being bound by any theory, the crosslinking carried out in this particular way presumably confers a particular spatial structure on the modified polysaccharide material, so that the chemical functions previously fixed can interact effectively with a vegetable or mineral matrix. It also follows that the degree of substitution required to obtain binding or thickening properties, are reduced compared to the products obtained by heterogeneous functionalization or mixed phase of the state of the art. These properties can also be improved when the degrees of substitution are maintained at values equal to the products of the state of the art.

In a related manner, the crosslinking by the crosslinking system according to the invention also has the effect of increasing the molecular weight of the modified polysaccharide material.

Short-range cross-linking

A first type of crosslinking that is useful for the invention is a "short-range" crosslinking carried out by a short-distance crosslinking agent.

By short-term crosslinking agent, the Applicant hears the molecular polyfunctional organic reagents. By "molecular", the Applicant intends: either organic carbon chain molecules, whose carbon chain has at most 8 carbon atoms, preferably at most 6 carbon atoms, and most preferably at most 2 carbon atoms; or organic molecules without a carbon chain consisting of 8 to 30 atoms or heteroatoms, preferably 10 to 16 atoms or heteroatoms. Variants of organic molecules useful as short-chain crosslinking agents according to the invention are those chosen from polyfunctional acids, such as polycarboxylic acids, such as citric acid, or polyphosphoric acids, such as triphosphoric acid; polyacid anhydrides, including mixed polyacid anhydrides such as adipic-acetic mixed anhydride; or polyfunctional basic organic molecules; as well as their metal salts such as the salt of sodium, manganese, calcium, manganese, iron, copper, zinc.

A particular variant of short-chain crosslinking agent useful in the invention include those selected from sodium salts of polyacids, such as sodium trimetaphosphate, sodium tripolyphosphate.

Other short-chain crosslinking agent variants are: polyfunctional aldehydes, such as glyoxal; halogenated epoxides, such as epichlorohydrin; aliphatic or aromatic diisocyanates, whose alkyl chain has less than 8 carbon atoms, such as hexamethylene diisocyanate. A variant of molecules useful as short-chain crosslinking agent is oxohalides, such as phosphorus oxychloride.

With regard to its implementation, the short-range crosslinking is carried out by adding a dose of short-chain crosslinking agent to the chemically functionalized polysaccharide material, with stirring ensuring a rapid and homogeneous dispersion of the crosslinking agent in the mass of material. polysaccharide at a temperature of at least 20 ° C for a reaction time of at least 60 minutes.

The dose of short-chain crosslinking agent to be used during the crosslinking is expressed as the dry mass of crosslinking agent to be introduced into the reaction medium, relative to the dry mass of polysaccharide material initially used in the modification process according to the invention. 'invention. This dose is in a range from 100 ppm to 10,000 ppm dry mass of short-chain crosslinking agent relative to the dry mass of polysaccharide material, preferably in a range from 2500 ppm to 5000 ppm. The short-chain crosslinking agent may be introduced in the form of an aqueous solution containing between 0.5% and 50% by weight of dry crosslinking agent, preferably between 2% and 20% by weight. This solution must be maintained at a temperature equal to the temperature of the reaction medium.

It is crucial that the crosslinking agent solution is rapidly dispersed in the reaction medium as soon as it is introduced. This rapid dispersion is necessary to allow a homogeneous distribution of the crosslinking bridges on all the polysaccharide chains.

According to a variant of the short-range crosslinking, the temperature of the reaction medium during the short-range crosslinking is greater than or equal to 35 ° C., preferably greater than or equal to 50 ° C.

According to another variant of the short-range crosslinking, the reaction time is greater than or equal to 5 hours, preferably greater than or equal to 10 hours, and most preferably greater than or equal to 15 hours.

Long-distance cross-linking

A second type of crosslinking that is useful for the invention is a "long-range" crosslinking carried out either with a long-distance crosslinking agent or with a long-distance crosslinking system.

By long-distance crosslinking agent, the Applicant means: organic polyfunctional organic reagents with a carbon chain containing at least 9 carbon atoms, preferably at least 20 carbon atoms; as well as macromolecular polyfunctional organic reagents of natural or synthetic origin; these two types of polyfunctional reagents being chosen from those which carry functional groups of carboxylic acid, amine or cyanate type.

The polyfunctional macromolecular reagents useful in the invention have a degree of polymerization greater than or equal to 5, preferably 10, and a number-average molecular weight of at least 1000 g / mol, preferably 4000 g / mol, and a weight weight average molecular weight of at least 10,000 g / mol, preferably 50,000 g / mol. A crosslinking system according to the invention is composed of at least one short-chain crosslinking agent and at least one polyhydroxylated polymer. By "polyhydroxylated polymer", the applicant understands the polymers carrying at least two alcohol functional groups.

The crosslinking system makes it possible to link the macromolecular chains of the polysaccharide material with selected length bridges having molecular flexibility.

A molecule of short-chain crosslinking agent can bind to the polysaccharide material via one of its reaction functions, and then bind to the polyhydroxy polymer via another of its reaction functions. The crosslinking agent molecule thus creates a binding bridge between the polysaccharide material and the hydroxylated polymer. Without the short-chain crosslinking agent, the hydroxylated polymer can not bind to the polysaccharide material because the hydroxyls of the alcohol functional groups can not react with the hydroxyls carried by the polysaccharide material. By repeating the bonding operation between a hydroxyl of another polysaccharide chain of the polysaccharide material and another hydroxyl of the polyhydroxy polymer, an intermolecular linkage between two polysaccharide chains can be created. The repetition of creation of bonds between the polysaccharide chains leads to a joining of these chains with each other.

The size of the polyhydroxylated polymer and the distribution of the alcohol functions on this polymer are parameters that can be varied to modulate the effects of the joining of the polysaccharide chains.

According to a variant of crosslinking with a long-distance crosslinking system, a homogeneous mixture of the polysaccharide material and the polyhydroxylated polymer is made before the introduction of the crosslinking agent at a short distance. This variant of crosslinking is carried out in two stages. First, the polyhydroxylated polymer is introduced into the polysaccharide material under stirring conditions allowing a homogeneous mixture between these two materials, and stirring can be maintained for a time sufficient to ensure the achievement of a homogeneous mass. Secondly, the short-chain crosslinking agent is introduced under agitation to ensure rapid dispersion.

In a first variant of a long-distance crosslinking system, the polyhydroxylated polymer is chosen from polymers or copolymers consisting of monomers having molecular weights greater than or equal to 40 g / mol. According to this variant, their degree of polymerization is greater than or equal to 10, preferably greater than or equal to 50, and most preferably greater than or equal to 80. According to this variant, their degree of polymerization may be less than or equal to 200, preferably less than or equal to 200. or equal to 150, and most preferably less than or equal to 100.

Synthetic polymers useful for this variant of the invention as polyhydroxylated polymers are: aliphatic polyethers, of low molecular weight, such as paraformaldehyde, polyethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, or polytetramethylene glycol, or of high molecular weight such as polyoxymethylene, polyethylene oxide, or polytetrahydrofuran; polyvinyl alcohol, such as polyvinyl alcohol; linear or branched polyether polyols, such as polyglycerol; carboxylic acid polymers such as lactic acid, or glycolic acid.

Synthetic copolymers useful in the invention as a long-range crosslinking agent are copolymers of ethylene and vinyl alcohol.

A second variant of a crosslinking system, the polyhydroxylated polymer is chosen from polymers or copolymers consisting of monomers having molecular weights greater than or equal to 160 g / mol. According to this variant, their degree of polymerization is then greater than or equal to 5, preferably greater than or equal to 25, and most preferably greater than or equal to 50. Moreover, again according to this variant, their degree of polymerization may be less than or equal to 200, preferentially less than or equal to 150, and most preferably less than or equal to 100. Polymers useful for this variant of the invention as polyhydroxylated polymers are dehydrated oligosaccharides, maltodextrins or glucose syrups resulting from the acid or enzymatic hydrolysis of starch of a botanical origin chosen from the possible botanical origins. starchy material according to the invention.

Among the oligosaccharides useful in the invention generally include fructooligosaccharides, galacto-oligosaccharides, gluco-oligosaccharides, mannan-oligosaccharides and maltooligosaccharides. According to several variants, the oligosaccharides useful in the invention are those composed of at least 5 monosaccharides and at most 25 monosaccharides.

Maltodextrins are oligosaccharide variants useful in the invention as long-chain cross-linking agent. Maltodextrins are obtained by acid and / or enzymatic hydrolysis of starch in the aqueous phase. In general, maltodextrins have a degree of polymerization ranging from 2 to 20.

Dehydrated glucose syrups useful in the invention are those compounds of glucose polymers having a degree of polymerization greater than or equal to 26, preferably greater than or equal to 50. Examples of corn syrup solids useful to the invention are Glucidex ^® sold by Roquette Frères.

According to a variant of the crosslinking step, the implementation of the crosslinking may consist in the simultaneous reaction of all the crosslinking agents on the polysaccharide material, or in successive reactions, one crosslinking agent after the other. According to another variant, a long-distance crosslinking is carried out first, via a long-distance crosslinking agent or a long-distance crosslinking system, and a short-distance crosslinking is done in second, via a short-distance crosslinking agent.

With regard to its implementation, the long-distance crosslinking is carried out by adding a dose of long-distance crosslinking agent to the chemically functionalized polysaccharide material, at a temperature of at least 20 ° C., for a reaction period of at least 20 ° C. minus 60 minutes, while ensuring a homogeneous agitation of the mass of polysaccharide material, and a dispersion rapid crosslinking agents in this mass of modified polysaccharide material.

The dose of crosslinking agent at long distance to be used during the crosslinking is expressed as the dry mass of crosslinking agent to be introduced into the reaction medium, relative to the dry mass of polysaccharide material initially used in the modification process according to the invention. 'invention. This dose is in a range from 1% to 15% of dry mass of crosslinking agent at long distance relative to the dry mass of polysaccharide material, preferably in a range from 2.5% to 10%.

According to a variant of the long-range crosslinking, the temperature of the reaction medium during the long-distance crosslinking is greater than or equal to 35 ° C., preferably greater than or equal to 50 ° C.

According to another variant of the long-range crosslinking, the reaction time is greater than or equal to 5 hours, preferably greater than or equal to 10 hours, and most preferably greater than or equal to 15 hours.

According to a variant of crosslinking by a long-distance crosslinking system, the dose of polyhydroxylated polymer ranges from 1% to 15% of the dry mass of polyhydroxylated polymer relative to the dry mass of polysaccharide material, preferably in a range of 2.5. % to 10%. The dose of crosslinking agent at short range can range from 100 ppm to 10,000 ppm of dry mass of crosslinking agent at short distance relative to the dry mass of polysaccharide material, preferably in a range from 2500 ppm to 5000 ppm. This crosslinking variant is carried out: at a temperature of at least 20 ° C, preferably greater than or equal to 35 ° C, and most preferably greater than or equal to 50 ° C; during a reaction time of at least 60 minutes, preferably greater than or equal to 5 hours, and most preferably greater than or equal to 10 hours, and still more preferably greater than or equal to 15 hours.

Final solid shaping The colloidal solution of functionalized and cross-linked gelatinized polysaccharide material obtained at the end of the chemical modification reactions is converted into a powder by any drying technique known to those skilled in the art.

According to the variant in which the polysaccharide material is a starchy material, it may be a drying on a drying drum or in a recirculating flash evaporator. The powder of modified starchy material obtained after drying has a particle size characterized by a mean volume diameter, measured by dry laser diffraction, ranging from 10 μm to 1 mm, preferably from 10 μm to 500 μm, and all preferably between 20 pm and 50 pm. If necessary, a grinding operation can be applied to the powder leaving the drying, so as to reach the desired particle size.

The powder obtained is substantially totally amorphous, and thus soluble in cold water, i.e., water at a temperature of between 5 ° C and 30 ° C.

Four variants of the process according to the invention using a basic starchy material are presented below.

According to a first variant of the process according to the invention, the modified starchy material prepared is a hydroxypropylated potato starch with a degree of substitution ranging from 0.10 to 0.50, preferentially ranging from 0.15 to 0.30.

This modified starch variant is prepared using a native potato starch as a starch. This native starch is then completely solubilized with stirring by heating at 80 ° C in the presence of sodium hydroxide at a content ranging from 1 to 5% dry soda / dry starch, preferably ranging from 1.5% to 2%. The viscosity of aqueous starch solution is in a range from 100 to 1,000,000 mPa.s, preferably ranging from 500 to 200,000 mPa.s, and most preferably ranging from 1,000 to 50,000 mPa.s. The solubilized starch is then hydroxypropylated by addition of propylene hydroxide to reach a degree of substitution ranging from 0.10 to 0.50, preferably ranging from 0.15 to 0.30. The aqueous hydroxypropyl starch solution thus obtained has a Brookefield viscosity ranging from 4,000 to 30,000 mPa.s, preferably from 5,000 to 24,000 mPa.s, at 20 ° C. at 20 rpm. According to a second variant of the process according to the invention, the modified starchy material prepared is a potato starch having been: hydroxypropylated at a degree of substitution ranging from 0.10 to 0.50, preferably ranging from 0.15 to 0. ,30 ; and cross-linked with the short-chain crosslinking agent sodium trimetaphosphate used at a dose ranging from 100 ppm to 2000 ppm.

This second process variant consists in the implementation of solubilization and hydroxypropylation in a manner identical to the first preceding variant, then in the implementation of a crosslinking in the presence of sodium trimetaphosphate at a dose ranging from 100 ppm to 2000 ppm at a temperature between 25 ° C and 50 ° C, for a reaction time between 15 hours and 30 hours.

The hydroxypropylated and crosslinked aqueous starch solution obtained has a Brookfield viscosity ranging from 4,000 to 30,000 mPa.s, preferably from 5,000 to 24,000 mPa.s, at 20 ° C. at 20 rpm.

According to a third variant of the process according to the invention, the modified starchy material prepared is a potato starch having been: hydroxypropylated at a degree of substitution ranging from 0.10 to 0.50, preferably ranging from 0.15 to 0. ,30 ; and carboxymethylated at a degree of substitution ranging from 0.05 to 1, preferably from 0.05 to 0.15.

The implementation of this third variant consists of solubilization and hydroxypropylation according to the first variant previously described, followed by carboxymethylation with sodium monochloroacetate in sodium catalysis until a degree of substitution of from 0.01 to 0 is reached. , 5, preferably from 0.05 to 0.15. The carboxymethylation is carried out at a temperature between 50 ° C and 100 ° C, preferably between 70 ° C and 90 ° C, for a reaction time of between 1 hour and 10 hours, preferably between 4 hours and 7 hours. The aqueous hydroxypropyl and carboxymethylated starch solution obtained has a Brookefield viscosity ranging from 5,000 to 300,000 mPa.s, preferably from 15,000 to 85,000 mPa.s, at 20 ° C. at 20 rpm. According to a fourth variant of the process according to the invention, a modified starch is a starch of hydroxypropyl potato starch, carboxymethylated and crosslinked with sodium trimetaphosphate. The degree of substitution in hydroxypropyl ranges from 0.10 to 0.50, preferably from 0.15 to 0.30. The degree of carboxymethyl substitution ranges from 0.01 to 0.5, preferably from 0.05 to 0.15. The degree of crosslinking ranges from 100 ppm to 2000 ppm, preferably from 500 ppm to 1500 ppm.

This modified starch variant is prepared using a native potato starch as a starch. This native starch is completely solubilized with stirring by heating at 80 ° C in the presence of sodium hydroxide at a content ranging from 1 to 5% dry soda / dry starch, preferably ranging from 1.5% to 2%. The viscosity of aqueous starch solution is in a range from 100 to 1,000,000 mPa.s, preferably ranging from 500 to 200,000 mPa.s, and most preferably ranging from 1,000 to 50,000 mPa.s. The solubilized starch is then hydroxypropylated by addition of propylene hydroxide to reach a degree of substitution ranging from 0.10 to 0.50, preferably ranging from 0.15 to 0.30. The starch is then carboxymethylated by reaction with sodium monochloroacetate in sodium catalysis until a degree of substitution of from 0.01 to 0.5, preferably from 0.05 to 0.15, is reached. The starch is finally crosslinked in the presence of sodium trimetaphosphate at a dose ranging from 100 ppm to 2000 ppm at a temperature between 25 ° C and 50 ° C, during a reaction time of between 15 hours and 30 hours.

The aqueous solution of hydroxypropyl starch, carboxymethylated and crosslinked obtained has a Brookefield viscosity ranging from 4,000 to 30,000 mPa.s, preferably from 5,000 to 24,000 mPa.s, and most preferably from 8,000 to 15,000 mPa.s, at 20 ° C at 20 rpm.

Devices for implementing the method

The devices that are useful for carrying out the process according to the invention are stirred reactors capable of producing a homogeneous mixture of viscous media, preferably by pumping and under medium shear, and all preferably by pump and under low shear. In general, all the reactors equipped with stirring devices comprising at least one simple screw type stirring unit, double corotative or counter-rotating screw, ploughshare, alone or in combination with agitators of mixed pumping axial / radial, are suitable for stirring a viscous mixture.

The solubilization step can be carried out in a "jet-cooker", then the solubilized starch is transferred to a stirred reactor, where the homogeneous chemical functionalization is carried out. According to one variant, the solubilization and the homogeneous chemical functionalization are carried out in a single stirred reactor.

The method can be implemented according to a batch, semi-continuous or continuous operation, or a combination of these modes. Each step of the process or each chemical modification can be carried out according to one of these modes of operation of the reactor. Several types of stirred reactor can thus alternatively be used to carry out the process according to the invention: batch reactor type stirred tank conventional; batch reactor was horizontal cylindrical, as the "Druvatherm ^® reactor DVT"Lodige; tubular continuous reactor equipped with static mixers, such as Sulzer's "SMV ™" or "SMX ™ Plus"; extruder.

Effect of the process according to the invention

The Applicant believes that, because the chemical substitution reactions are carried out on a solubilized starch, the chemical groups introduced are regularly distributed on the starch chains. Thanks to these modifications in the glue phase, the chemical groups are probably distributed more homogeneously on the starch chains. This new distribution of the chemical groups probably contributes to the application properties of the starch according to the invention.

Polysaccharide material obtained by the process and characterized by the distribution of substituents on positions 2, 3 and 6 The polysaccharide material obtained by the process according to the present invention is characterized by a distribution of chemical functional groups introduced quite surprising. By an analytical method such as proton nuclear magnetic resonance, the Applicant has indeed found that the method according to the invention makes it possible to obtain a polysaccharide material having a different chemical functionalization of the state-of-the-art process concerning the positions of the substituted hydroxyl groups.

The constituent unit of the polysaccharide material is an anhydroglucose or anhydrofructose cycle, preferentially anhydroglucose (AGU), as in the following formula:

On this unit, the atoms constituting the ring are conventionally numbered from 1, for the so-called anomeric carbon atom, to 6 for the carbon atom located outside the ring, as indicated in FIG. 1. The polysaccharide material is consisting of a sequence of these units connected to each other by formation of an ether bond between a hydroxyl carried by the carbon 1 and a carbon of another unit either in the 4-position or the 6-position. All the constituent units have 3 hydroxyl functional groups available to be substituted by chemical reaction: one in position 2, one in position 3 and one in position 6.

With the process according to the invention, the substituent chemical groups attached to the hydroxyl functional groups of the modified polysaccharide material are distributed differently than for a polysaccharide material modified by the methods of the state of the art.

When it comes to the first chemical modification carried out on the polysaccharide material, preferably, in the case of a hydroxyalkylation, and most preferably a hydroxypropylation, the applicant has indeed observed, by NMR measurement of proton, that chemical groups Hydroxyalkyls are distributed as follows: less at the 2-position, more at the 3-position and 6-position, compared to a chemical modification according to a granular process.

When it comes to the second chemical modification carried out on the polysaccharide material, preferably, when it is a carboxyalkylation, and very preferably a carboxymethylation, the applicant has indeed observed, by measurement by NMR of proton, that the carboxyalkyl chemical groups are distributed in the following way: more on the position 2, less on the position 3, and more on the position 6, compared to a chemical modification according to a mixed process (ie granular-glue).

Thus, according to a first main embodiment, an object of the present application is the modified polysaccharide material comprising anhydroglucose units, completely soluble in water, comprising hydroxyl functional groups substituted by at least one hydroxyalkyl chemical group, having a distribution of said hydroxyalkyl group on the constituent units of the polysaccharide material measured by proton NMR, which is:

at. The percentage of hydroxyalkyl group attached at the 2-position is less than or equal to 68%, preferably less than or equal to 65%, very preferably less than or equal to 64%,

b. And / or the percentage of hydroxyalkyl group attached at the 3-position is greater than or equal to 15%, preferably greater than or equal to 17%, very preferably greater than or equal to 17.5%,

c. And / or the percentage of hydroxyalkyl group attached in position 6 is greater than or equal to 15%, preferably greater than or equal to 17%, very preferably greater than or equal to 18%.

Preferentially, the modified polysaccharide material is a modified starch, and the distribution of the hydroxyalkyl group is on the anhydroglucose units, as described above. According to a second main embodiment, an object of the present application is a modified polysaccharide material according to the first main embodiment, further comprising hydroxyl functional groups substituted by at least one carboxyalkyl chemical group, having a distribution of said carboxyalkyl group on the constituent units of the polysaccharide material, measured by proton NMR, which is:

at. The percentage of carboxyalkyl group attached at the 2-position is greater than or equal to 75.5%, preferably greater than or equal to 76.5%,

b. And / or the percentage of carboxyalkyl group attached at the 3-position is less than or equal to 20%, preferably less than or equal to 19%, c. And / or the percentage of carboxyalkyl group attached at the 6-position is greater than or equal to 4%, preferably greater than or equal to 5%.

Preferentially, the modified polysaccharide material is a modified starch, and the distribution of the hydroxyalkyl group is on the anhydroglucose units, as described above.

According to a preferred variant of the two main embodiments of the modified polysaccharide material which is the subject of the present invention, the modified polysaccharide material comprises hydroxyalkyl groups chosen from hydroxypropyl or hydroxyethyl, preferentially hydroxypropyl. Very preferably, the hydroxyalkyl group is a hydroxypropyl group, and the degree of substitution in hydroxypropyl is between 0.05 and 2, preferably between 0.1 and 1, and most preferably between 0.15 and 0.6, and more preferentially between 0.15 and 0.5.

According to a preferred variant of the second main embodiment, that to a carboxyalkyl group, the modified polysaccharide material comprises, as carboxyalkyl group, a carboxymethyl group. Very preferably, the degree of carboxymethyl substitution is between 0.03 and 2, preferably between 0.03 and 1, and most preferably between 0.03 and 0.3, and more preferably between 0.03 and 0.2. According to a preferred variant of the main embodiments and preceding preferential variants, the modified polysaccharide material according to the invention is crosslinked with a crosslinking agent chosen from long-chain crosslinking agents or short-range crosslinking agents, and preferably from short-chain crosslinking agents, and most preferably with sodium trimetaphosphate.

According to a preferred variant of the main embodiments and preceding preferential variants, the modified polysaccharide material is in the form of a powder which has a mean volume diameter, measured by dry laser diffraction, of between 10 μm and 1 mm, preferably between 50 pm and 500 pm. Very preferably, the modified polysaccharide material is cold-soluble, most preferably substantially totally amorphous.

The method for measuring the distribution of the hydroxyalkyl and carboxyalkyl substituents at the 2, 3 and 6 positions, that is to say on the hydroxyls at the 2, 3 and 6 positions of the units constituting the modified polysaccharide material, preferentially on the anhydroglucose units of the modified starch, is a proton nuclear magnetic resonance measurement at 25 ° C, known per se.

The analysis can be in deuterium oxide solvent, D20, at least 99.8% purity and deuterium chloride, DCI on an AVANCE III spectrometer, from Brucker Spectrospin, operating at 400 MHz, using tubes NMR diameter 5 mm.

For example, such a method can be adapted from the published method "Determination of the level and position of substitution in hydroxypropylated starch by high-resolution 1H-NMR spectroscopy of alpha-limit dextrins", from A. XU and PA SEIB, in " Journal of Cereal Science, vol. 25, 1997, pages 17-26, for the identification of the NMR spectrum signals, without implementing the enzymatic etching of alpha-border dextrins.

When the polysaccharide material is modified by a single chemical group, then the NMR method is applied for example as illustrated in Example 7 for the hydroxypropyl group. When the polysaccharide material is modified by at least two chemical groups, the NMR method must be applied to isolated samples after each modification, to be able to subtract the proton signals from the previous modifications to the modification studied. An example of this case is illustrated in Example 7 on a starch first hydroxypropylated, and secondly carboxymethylated.

The determination of the degrees of substitution in hydroxyalkyl or carboxyalkyl groups is possible by proton nuclear magnetic resonance. For example, for hydroxypropyl substituents, the reference method EN ISO 11543: 2002 F may be used.

Industrial application: organic adjuvant for dry mortars

Modified starches according to the process of the present invention may have at least three types of chemical substituents typically used in the field of modified starches as additives for building materials: hydroxypropyl substituents, carboxymethyl substituents and trimetaphosphate crosslinking and these may be present at low degrees of substitution, for example, less than or equal to 0.3. Contrary to the knowledge of the state of the art, the low levels of these substituents still allow to obtain a dry product conferring excellent properties to dry mortars. By incorporating the modified starch powder according to the invention into dry mortar formulations, adhesives having excellent slip and sag resistance are obtained while having an acceptable open time and setting time.

The starch powders modified according to the invention can be used as an organic additive in dry mortars, both base cement and gypsum base. In particular, they can be used in tile adhesive mortars, and also in plaster casts and plaster casts. The modified starches according to the invention have a good adaptability with respect to the nature of the mineralogical binder. The dry mortars are mixed with water to form a mix, which is an aqueous suspension of the dry mortar components. This tempering is the actual adhesive mortar, which is used to bind the elements of a building, such as bricks, slabs, tiles.

In general, dry mortars are mixtures of dry powders consisting of mineral binders, aggregates and organic additives.

Mineralogical binders are the main component. They give the glue its basic characteristics of mechanical strength and stability. They can be hydraulic binders, such as natural or artificial cements, or hydraulic lime. They can also be aerial binders, such as aerial lime, fat or lean. Mixtures of hydraulic binders or aerial binders are also possible.

Aggregates are mineral grains, called fillers, sands, gravel or gravels, depending on their size.

The organic additives are organic materials of natural or synthetic origin, which are added to the dry mortar in a small proportion, generally less than 5% of the weight of the dry mortar, in order to improve the properties of the mortars in the fresh state and hardened mortars. In the case of bonded mortars, admixtures can modify their rheological properties, workability, binding strength, setting, hardening, adaptability or protect them against desiccation. As for the hardened mortar, the admixtures can modify the mechanical resistance, the frost resistance and the water resistance.

As organic additives for dry mortars based on gypsum or cement base, the Applicant has found that the modified starches obtained by the process according to the invention make it possible in particular to increase the binding strength of the fresh mortar, and to a certain extent the mortar hardened, and they have a good thickening power, and this at degrees of substitution lower than the values of modified starches of the state of the art.

In the case of a mortar adhesive, cement base, for tiles, modified starches according to the invention allow different improvements depending on the functionalization applied chemical. An application test that makes it possible to highlight the differences between the starches produced according to the state of the art and those according to the process of the invention, is the measurement of the slip resistance.

The sliding resistance is generally evaluated by measuring the distance traveled following the vertical displacement, expressed in millimeters, of a tile tiled on a vertical support, after a duration of 20 minutes after the positioning of the tile on the upper part of the gluing surface. This is a slip along the vertical support. The smaller the distance, the higher the slip resistance. By replacing the starches of the state of the art with the modified starches according to the invention in a tiled dry mortar composition, the distance traveled by sliding is reduced by at least 30%, preferably 78%.

For a chemical functionalization consisting solely of hydroxypropylation, the process according to the invention makes it possible to achieve an acceptable slip resistance, in particular a slip of less than 2 mm, for a degree of substitution that is one-half that of a hydroxypropylated starch according to the invention. the state of the art process, which provides a slip of more than 62 mm. In addition, when the basic polysaccharide material is a mixture of potato starch and pea starch, the process according to the invention succeeds in chemically functionalizing the pea starch, so that a fresh prepared mortar with this mixture of modified starches provides a slip resistance equivalent to a potato-only modified starch.

When the chemical functionalization consists of a hydroxypropylation followed by a carboxymethylation, the method of the invention makes it possible to reduce by more than 50% the degrees of substitution required to obtain a sliding resistance equivalent to the starches prepared according to the method of the state of the invention. art.

Finally, when the chemical functionalization consists of a hydroxypropylation, followed by a carboxymethylation and a crosslinking with sodium trimetaphosphate, the process according to the invention makes it possible, surprisingly and completely unexpectedly, to obtain a modified starch conferring a acceptable slip resistance, whereas a starch modified according to the method of the state of the art does not give slip resistance. Compared to modified starches of the state of the art which are substituted for high degrees of substitution, generally greater than 0.5 or even 1, starches modified according to the process of the invention have the advantage of having lower degrees of substitution, less than or equal to 0.3, preferably less than or equal to 0.2. These low substitution rates make it possible to reduce the impact of the production process on the environment, in particular by reducing the quantities of reagents required to modify the starches.

In addition to this improvement in their binding strength, the adhesive mortars prepared with the starches according to the invention have application properties equivalent to products of the state of the art, especially in terms of workability, open time and setting time.

It is known that sugar is a retarder of setting time. For this reason, the use of modified starch as an organic additive in mortars leads to an increase in setting time, compared to starch-free mortars, which however must remain less than 24 hours to be acceptable. The mortars prepared with the starches modified according to the process of the invention do indeed have a setting time of less than 24 hours.

With starches modified according to the process of the invention, it is also possible to obtain an effective adhesive mortar for a mixing water content of between 0.65 and 0.75, preferably between 0.68 and 0.72, while maintaining an acceptable setting time of less than 24 hours.

In the case of gypsum dry mortars for drywall, the starches modified by the process according to the invention have acceptable thickening properties, as demonstrated by a spreading test of a plaster consisting of gypsum, modified starch and of water.

FIGURES

Figure 1: Location of the hardness measurement points on a plasterboard Figure 2: graph comparing the hardness to 5 mm (N) of plasterboard

EXAMPLES

Example 1 Preparation of modified starch according to the method of the state of the art

The following example describes the process for preparing a starch modified according to the state of the art.

Modification Protocol:

This embodiment of the method according to the state of the art is carried out in a reactor "Druvatherm DVT10" of the manufacturer "Lodige Process Technology". It is a cylindrical reactor in a horizontal position, with a double jacket, the stirring device of which is suitable for fluids with a viscosity of up to 1,000,000 mPa.s. The stirring device consists of a main mixer made of blade blades arranged along the central horizontal axis, and a secondary mixer made of rotary knives arranged near the inner wall of the reactor. Each mixer can rotate at its own adjustable speed.

For all the operations performed in this example, the agitation is set at 100 rpm for the main mixer and at 1000 rpm for the secondary mixer.

The first step is the preparation of a starch milk. To do this, 2,500 g of dry potato starch are slurried in 3,750 g of water at 39 ° C, then 725 g of sodium sulfate powder are dissolved in this starch milk, and the pH of the milk is adjusted to 8 with 5% aqueous sodium hydroxide solution.

The second step is a hydroxypropylation, catalyzed by sodium hydroxide, in the granular phase until a degree of substitution of 0.25 is reached. 800 g of 5% aqueous sodium hydroxide solution, ie 40 g of dry sodium hydroxide, are introduced into the milk. This amount of sodium hydroxide is the catalyst of the hydroxypropylation reaction. 260 g of liquid propylene oxide are introduced while maintaining a pressure of less than or equal to 3 bars in the reactor. The reaction medium is then maintained at 39 ° C. for 16 hours, until complete consumption of the propylene oxide, without pressure regulation. During this hydroxypropylation, the starch retains its granular structure, thanks to the sodium sulphate present and at a temperature below the gelatinization temperature of the potato starch (about 65 ° C.).

The third step is the cooking, i.e. gelatinization, of the hydroxypropylated starch to obtain a starch glue. The temperature of the reactor is increased to 80 ° C, and maintained for 60 minutes to obtain a homogeneous adhesive of stable viscosity.

The fourth stage of starch modification is the sodium-catalyzed carboxymethylation. 803 g of 50% aqueous sodium hydroxide solution, ie 401.5 g of dry sodium hydroxide, are introduced into the starch glue: this quantity of sodium hydroxide is the carboxymethylation catalyst. 900 g of dry sodium monochloroacetate are introduced at once in the starch glue. The reactor is stirred at 80 ° C. for 5 hours to reach the end of the reaction.

The next step of modification of the hydroxypropylated starch gelatinized and carboxymethylated, i.e. the fifth step of this process, is the crosslinking catalyzed by the excess sodium hydroxide introduced in previous reactions. The crosslinking agent is sodium trimetaphosphate. 2.5 g of this salt are introduced in dry form into the reaction medium. The reactor is stirred at 80 ° C. for 3 hours.

Drying protocol:

The modified starch gel obtained at the end of the three chemical substitutions is then transformed into a solid by passage on a dryer drum of the manufacturer "Andritz Gouda" at a rotation speed of 7.5 rpm and whose cylinders are heated. at 90-100 ° C with steam at 10 bar. Flakes of a solid starch are thus obtained. These scales are successively crushed in a hammer mill of the manufacturer "Retsch" equipped with a grid of 2 pm, at 1500 rpm, then in an ultra-fine grinder brand Septu set at 50 Hertz, at a speed of rotation of 3000 rpm. This results in a fine whitish powder. The average volume diameter of this powder is 37 μm.

The degrees of substitution of the starch are: 0.25 in hydroxypropyl functions, and 0.36 in carboxymethyl function, and 1000 ppm in trimetaphosphate. This starch is referenced EDT 4.

Three other starches according to the state of the art are prepared by following in part the state of the art process.

Two starches are prepared by carrying out hydroxypropylation, gelatinization and carboxymethylation, but not the crosslinking: EDT 3 is prepared at a hydroxypropyl substitution degree of 0.2 and carboxymethyl of 0.1 using 260 g of oxide propylene and 300 g of sodium monochloroacetate; EDT 2 is prepared at a degree of substitution of hydroxypropyl of 0.7 and carboxymethyl of 0.2 using 910 g of propylene oxide and 600 g of sodium monochloroacetate.

A starch, denoted EDT1, is prepared by carrying out only the hydroxypropylation with 650 g of propylene oxide to reach a degree of substitution of 0.5.

Table 1: starches prepared according to the state of the art process

Example 2 Preparation of Modified Starches According to the Process of the Invention

The following example describes the process for preparing a modified starch according to the invention.

Modification Protocol: This embodiment of the process according to the invention is carried out in a reactor "Druvatherm DVT10" of the manufacturer "Lodige Process Technology" identical to that used for Example 1 of the method according to the state of the art.

In the first place, a starch gel is prepared by gelatinizing the native starch under the effect of the temperature in the presence of sodium hydroxide. To do this, 2,500 g of dry potato starch are stirred in 5,833 g of water at 20 ° C. under agitation of 100 rpm for the main mixer and 1000 rpm for the secondary mixer, then the temperature the reaction medium is gradually increased to 80 ° C to about 10 ° C / hour. During this heating, when the temperature reaches 65 ° C., the rotation speed of the main mixer is increased to 200 rpm and that of the secondary mixture to 2000 rpm, then 80 g of a 50% aqueous sodium hydroxide solution are added. to the starch suspension in 5 minutes, or 40 g of dry sodium hydroxide, to facilitate the bursting of the starch grains. After reaching the temperature of 80 ° C, the starch gel is stirred at this temperature for 1 hour to obtain a homogeneous gel. The starch gel obtained no longer has any intact grain or burst: all of the starch is dispersed in the form of a hydrocolloid.

In the second place, the chemical modifications are carried out, while preserving the stirring parameters previously used: namely, a speed of 200 rpm for the main mixer, and a speed of 2000 rpm for the secondary mixer.

The first chemical modification of the gelatinized starch is a hydroxylation catalyzed by sodium hydroxide. No additional amount of soda is added. 294 g of liquid propylene oxide are introduced while maintaining a pressure of 3 bars in the reactor. The reaction medium is then maintained at 80 ° C. for 4 hours, until complete consumption of the propylene oxide. At the end of this hydroxypropylation, a reference starch ROQ. 1 can be isolated in solid form following the drying protocol below. The second modification is carboxymethylation catalyzed by sodium hydroxide. 214 g of 50% aqueous sodium hydroxide solution, ie 107 g of dry sodium hydroxide, are introduced into the starch glue: this quantity of sodium hydroxide is the carboxymethylation catalyst. 240 g of dry sodium monochloroacetate are introduced at once into the starch glue. The reactor is stirred at 80 ° C. for 5 hours to reach the end of the reaction. At the end of this carboxymethylation, a reference starch ROQ 2 is prepared in solid form by following the drying protocol below.

The third modification step is the crosslinking catalysed by the excess sodium hydroxide introduced during the previous reactions. The crosslinking agent is sodium trimetaphosphate. 2.5 g of this salt are introduced in dry form into the reaction medium. The reactor is stirred at 80 ° C. for 3 hours. A modified starch ROQ.3 is prepared in solid form following the drying protocol below.

A modified starch ROQ.4 is prepared according to the same modification protocol as ROQ. 1 above using this time a potato starch / starch mixture of peas in a 50/50 ratio. 1250g of potato starch are mixed with 1250g of pea starch for a total of 2500g of starch.

A modified starch ROQ5 is prepared according to the same modification protocol as ROQ3 above, this time using a starch / potato starch mixture in a 50/50 ratio. 1250 g of potato starch are mixed with 1250 g of pea starch for a total of 2500 g of starch.

Drying protocol:

As for the modified starch of Example 1, the modified starch gel obtained at the end of the three chemical substitutions is then converted into a solid by the same drying operations on a drying drum and successive grindings, as performed in Example 1, resulting in a fine whitish powder. The average volume diameter of this powder is 35 μm.

The degrees of substitution of the starch are: 0.2 in hydroxypropyl function, and 0.1 in carboxymethyl functions, and 1000 ppm in trimetaphosphate. Table 2: starches prepared according to the process of the invention

Example 3: Slip resistance and setting time of mortars glue

According to standard NF EN 12004-2: 2017-04, adhesives for tiles are prepared according to the instructions of paragraph 6, from dry mortars of composition chosen by the applicant to be discriminant between mortars. These glues are used to glue ceramic tiles of dimensions 10 cm x 10 cm, in order to compare the sliding resistance, according to the instructions of point 8.2 of said standard.

Preparation of the dry mortar:

The composition of the dry mortar is 40 parts of cement "CEM I Portland 52, 5N CP2" provided by Equiom, 59 parts of sand size 0, 1-0.4 pm provided by Société Nouvelle du Littoral, 0.50 part of "VINNAPAS 5010N" redispersive powder supplied by Wacker, 0.50 "Walocel MKX 6000" cellulose ether ether supplied by Dow, and 0.05 part modified starch, according to the state of the art or according to the invention. The product masses making it possible to prepare 847.9 g of dry mortar satisfying this composition are given in Table 3. All the components are in the form of dry powders.

The required masses of these powders are mixed in a planetary mixer "L01.M03" from the manufacturer "Euromatest Sintco" at a speed of rotation of 140 rpm for the speed of rotation e 62 rpm for planetary motion, for 15 minutes.

Table 3: composition of dry mortar for tile adhesive

The 0.1-0.4 μm sand is composed of particles having a diameter ranging from 0.1 μm to 0.4 μm, and whose particle size is characterized by a Di ₀ of 171 μm, a D ₅₀ of 270 μm, a D ₉₀ of 418 microns, and D _{4 3} 284 pm.

Preparation of the mortar glue (mixing operation):

A tile adhesive is prepared from the dry mortar with a ratio of the water mass to the cement mass of 0.7. Thus 237.3 g of water and 847.9 g of dry mortar prepared according to the composition of Table 3, are mixed according to the procedure of point 6 of standard NF EN 120004-2 with the single difference that only one mixing is performed, instead of the two provided by the standard.

Thus, the body of water is poured into the tank of an automatic mortar mixer "L01.M03" of the manufacturer "Euromatest Sintco" in accordance with EN 196-1: 2016. The dry mortar mass is then dispersed on the water, and then the kneading is applied for one minute at a rotation speed of 285 rpm +/- 10 and a planetary movement of 125 rpm +/- 10. the result of this one and only mixing, the glue is immediately used in a slip resistance test.

Method of measuring slip resistance

The materials and equipment are those of the standard NF EN 12004-2: 2017-04. The adhesive mortars are prepared according to Example 3. The procedure is that of paragraph 8.2.3 of said standard. The implementation of this procedure results in a surface quantity of adhesive used ranging from 2.5 to 3.5 kg of adhesive per m ² of concrete.

Method of measuring setting time

The method of measurement of setting time is that described in standard NF EN 480-2: 2006-11 using an automatic "PA8" probe of the manufacturer "ACMEL" equipped with a Vicat needle of 1.13 mm diameter and height 50 mm, and a frustoconical Vicat mold with a diameter of 80 mm, a height of 70 mm and a height of 40 mm. Unlike the standard, all the steps required to prepare and perform the setting time test are carried out in an atmosphere at 23 ° C +/- 2 ° C and a relative humidity of 50% +/- 5%.

Results:

Slips and start times measured for different glues prepared from dry mortars differing in the nature of the starch present are shown in Table 4.

Table 4: Comparison of Measured Slips

When only hydroxypropylation is carried out (G1, G5 and G8 tests), the improvement in slip resistance is just as important: the EDT 1 modified starch leads to a slip of 62.7 mm, whereas the modified starches ROQ 1 and ROQ 4 induce slips of 1.7 mm. Such a low slip value is also lower than the market reference product, CASUCOL 301, which has a slip of 6.4 mm.

When the three chemical substitutions are carried out (tests G4, G7 and G9), the effect of the process according to the invention compared to the method of the state of the art is obvious: the modified starch EDT 4 leads to a slip maximum of 150 mm, unacceptable, whereas ROQ modified starches. 3 and ROQ. Both lead to 4.5 mm and 4.2 mm slips, quite acceptable.

Example 4: Gypsum Based Plaster Mortar

The modified starches according to the invention can be used as a binder organic adjuvant in the gypsum-based spray mortar formulation according to Table 5.

Table 5: Plaster composition to be sprayed

The "Beta casting plaster" sold by Dislab ^® is composed of 60% calcium sulfate beta hemihydrate, 20% anhydrite II, and 10% calcium sulfate dihydrate. It is a fine powder whose granulometry is characterized by Di ₀ of 2.9 mih, a D ₅₀ of 24.5 mih and a D ₉₀ of 99 mih, as measured by dry laser diffraction granulometry on a Malvern Mastersizer particle size analyzer.

All components of the formulation, previously stabilized at 23 ° C +/- 2 ° C and 50% atmosphere +/- 5% relative humidity, are weighed in a glass jar of 1 liter resealable.

This mixture of powders is homogenized in a planetary mixer "L01.M03" from the manufacturer "Euromatest Sintco" at a speed of rotation of 140 rpm for the speed of rotation e 62 rpm for planetary movement, for 15 minutes . This gives the dry spray mortar.

400 g of drinking water at 23 ° C +/- 2 ° C are placed in another automatic mortar mixer L01.M03 from Euromatest Sintco, compliant with standard NF EN 196-1. All 682.85 g of dry spray mortar is poured onto the water without agitation. Immediately after this addition, stirring of the mixer is started at a slow speed for 10 seconds and then at a fast speed for 50 seconds. Following this mixing, the mortar is immediately sprayed onto a concrete wall. The mortar layer adheres well to the concrete substrate, and does not sag.

Example 5: Plasterboard thickener for plasterboard

The starches modified according to the process of the invention have thickening properties for gypsum board plasters. The thickening properties of various modified starches according to the invention are compared according to a Vicat spreading measure according to paragraph 4.3.2 entitled "dispersion method" of standard NF EN 13279-2 (revised February 2014) entitled "Binders- plaster plasters and plasters for building - Part 2: test methods ".

Preparation of wet plaster:

The starches modified according to the invention can be used as organic binder adjuvant to form wet plasters for drywall. According to the formulation of Table 6, several starches modified according to the process of the invention are tested.

Table 6: Composition of Plaster for Plates

A wet plaster paste is prepared by pouring all the dry mixture of the components, previously homogenized in a planetary mixer "L01.M03" from the manufacturer "Euromatest Sintco" at a speed of rotation of 140 rpm for the speed of rotation of 62 rpm for planetary motion for 15 minutes, on the body of water and kneading with a whip in an 8-shaped motion for 45 seconds to obtain a homogeneous, lump-free paste . As soon as the mixing is complete, the wet plaster is engaged in the spread measurement.

Measurement of spreading:

A Vicat frustoconical ring with a base diameter of 75 mm is filled with a wet plaster preparation according to the formulation in Table 6, taking care to slowly pour the plaster into the ring so as not to incorporate an air bubble, and to level the free surface with a blade. This filling operation usually takes about 15 seconds. Immediately after filling, the Vicat ring is lifted vertically with a single abrupt blow to release the plaster, which can then spread over the glass support plate to form a wet plaster slab. Fifteen seconds after removal of the ring, the spread is generally stabilized, and the average maximum diameter of the wet plaster is measured.

TABLE 7 Comparative Measurements Measured for Starches According to the Invention

Starchless or with Roquette Frères native starch "Starch M-B-065-R", the spread reaches more than 170 mm, illustrating the total absence of thickening of the wet plaster.

For starches modified from potato starch, the starch ROQ 1 gives a spread of 78 mm, only 3 mm more than the diameter of the base of the Vicat ring. This demonstrates that a starch modified by the process according to the invention, with for its only chemical modification a hydroxypropylation at DS of 0.2 allows a strong thickening of the wet plaster. The addition of a carboxymethylation to a DS of 0.1 (ROQ 2 starch) gives a spread of 138 mm, which demonstrates the degradation of the thickening effect. This could be due to the decrease in the viscosity of the starch according to test A at 1300 mPa.s. Surprisingly, the addition of a carboxymethylation to DS 0.1 and a 1000 ppm sodium trimetaphosphate crosslinking (ROQ 3 starch) makes it possible to recover the thickening power of the hydroxypropylated starch ROQ 1 only. This is all the more surprising since the viscosity according to test A of starch ROQ 3 in itself has nevertheless been further reduced to 500mPa.s relative to ROQ 2. The increase in thickening power is therefore not due to the viscosity of the modified starch, but to the interactions again made possible thanks to the spatial structure imposed by the crosslinking. For starches modified from pea starch, ROQ 8 only substituted by hydroxypropylation at DS of 0.2 leads to a high spread of 157 mm, despite a high test viscosity of 23%. 300 mPa.s. This spread is reduced to 134 mm by the addition of a carboxymethylation to a DS of 0.1 (ROQ 9 starch). However, for these two starches, there is clearly no thickening effect of the wet plaster. Surprisingly, for ROQ starch. Having further undergone a crosslinking with 1000 ppm trimetaphosphate, the spread is almost equal to the diameter of the Vicat ring, which indicates that the wet plaster is almost not spread, and therefore that the thickening power of the ROQ 10 starch is high. This is all the more surprising since the viscosity of starch ROQ 10 according to test A is lower than that of starches ROQ 8 and ROQ 9. In the case of pea starch, short-range crosslinking has thus allowed to reveal the thickening power of the triply modified starch: short-range crosslinking has imparted a spatial structure that makes the hydrogen interactions of hydroxypropyl groups effective.

Example 6: Core reinforcement of plasterboard

This example illustrates the increase in the so-called "core" strength of the starches according to the invention for plasterboard prepared from the gypsum plaster formulation of Example 5 (Table 6).

One way to characterize the core strength of a plasterboard is to measure the force required, expressed in Newton (N), to penetrate a point to a certain depth, such as with an Instron © rheometer. reference number "9566". According to this procedure, the Applicant has measured the force required for a geometry tip of "circular-base pyramid" type to penetrate 5 mm into the plasterboard at a speed of 10 mm / min, at a temperature of 20 mm. ° C. The dimensions of the tip are: diameter of the circular base equal to 4 mm, height equal to 2.5 cm, and thickness of the tip of the tip equal to 1 mm.

The hardnesses of gypsum boards prepared with starches according to the invention, which are starch ROQ 1 and ROQ 3, are thus compared with the hardnesses of prepared plaster without starch, with native starches (maize starch, pea starch) or with a pregelatinized starch (Roquette commercial starch "M-ST 310").

Preparation of drywall:

Plasterboard of dimensions Length x Width x Thickness equal to 15 cm x 7.5 cm x 1 cm are each prepared according to the following protocol. When starch is added, only one type of starch is added. There is no mixture of starches.

A wet plaster paste is prepared according to the same protocol as in Example 5, including a modification: 0.33 g of accelerator is added to the dry mix of gypsum and starch. The accelerator is a powder consisting of plaster, derived from a commercial plaster board devoid of these cardboard faces, having been manually ground with mortar and dried in an oven at 110 ° C. for 1 hour.

Immediately after the preparation, the totality of the surroundings 510.67 grams of pulp is poured in excess on a rectangular cardboard "for plasterboard" placed in a rectangular steel mold, and covering the entire surface of the mold (15 x 7.5 cm), all resting on a plastic plate. By "excess" is meant that the mass of plaster paste is greater than the mass that can accommodate the mold, so that it ensures that the entire available volume is filled with plaster paste. The rectangular carton at the bottom of the mold is the underside of the plasterboard. As soon as the casting of the plaster into the mold is complete, a rectangular carton (15 x 7.5 cm) is placed over the paste, positioning the concave portion of the rectangular carton in contact with the paste. This second cardboard constitutes the upper face of the plasterboard. A second plastic plate is then placed on the top of this rectangular carton, so as to cover the entire surface of the mold.

A mass of 10 kg is then placed on the upper plastic plate so as to cover the surface of the upper cardboard face homogeneously for a period of 5 minutes. When applying this mass, the excess mass of plaster paste overflows by the sides. The mass is then removed, then the whole is left in the state, at rest in a horizontal position, for 4 minutes, after which the plasterboard is demolded and placed on the field in the vertical position of its long edge for 10 minutes. The plate is then dried in the position "on the field" in a drying oven saturated with water at 180 ° C for 20 minutes, then in another oven unsaturated with water at 110 ° C for 20 minutes, and finally in an oven unsaturated in water at 45 ° C for 12 hours. The plasterboard thus obtained is stabilized in the conditioned room at 23 ° C +/- 2 ° C and humidity of 50% +/- 5% for at least 2 days.

Protocol for measuring the hardness of plasterboard:

The hardness of each plasterboard is measured by the penetration resistance of a punch at a depth of 5 mm at a speed of 10 mm / min with an "Instron © 9566" machine. This so-called "5 mm" hardness is expressed in newtons (N). For each plate, 5 penetration measurements are made in a distributed manner on the surface of the plasterboard according to Figure 1, to take into account the possible inhomogeneity of the plasterboard: the hardness at 5 mm is an average value of these five measurements, and the standard deviation is provided for information (in newtons).

Hardness results at 5 mm:

Compared to a gypsum board prepared with a non-starch plaster paste, the results (Table 8 and Figure 2) show an increase in hardness of about 7% due to the addition of native starch in the plaster paste, and about 10% thanks to the addition of pregelatinized Roquette M-ST 310 starch. The increase in hardness reaches about 26% with the starches according to the invention ROQ 1 and ROQ 3. The starches according to the invention ROQ. 1 and ROQ. 3 are therefore effective in increasing the hardness of a plasterboard, that is to say that they increase the mechanical strength at the core of the plasterboard.

Table 8: Results of hardness measurements at 5 mm

Example 7 Characterization of the Starches According to the Invention by Proton NMR

In this example, it is explained how to exploit proton NMR measurements on a starch which has undergone two successive chemical modifications: first, a hydroxypropylation, of which a sample, denoted "Ech_HP", is analyzed; then in a second step, a carboxymethylation, of which a sample, denoted "Ech_HP + CM", is analyzed thanks to the preceding analysis of the sample hydroxypropyl "Ech_HP", in particular by subtracting the signals of the protons H1 due to hydroxypropylation .

The present method is an adaptation of the method disclosed in the article "Determination of the level and position of substitution in hydroxypropylated starch by high-resolution 1H-NMR spectroscopy of alpha-limit dextrins", by A. XU and PA SEIB, published in "Journal of Cereal Science", vol. 25, 1997, pages 17 to 26.

Proton NMR method for identifying and quantifying the positions of hydroxypropyl groups on the Ech HP sample:

This method is valid for starch modified with only hydroxypropyls.

The analysis is carried out by nuclear magnetic resonance, NMR, of the proton at 25 ° C in deuterium oxide solvent, D ₂ 0, of a purity of at least 99.8% and deuterium chloride DCI, on an AVANCE spectrometer. III, Brucker Spectrospin, operating at 400 MHz, using 5 mm diameter NMR tubes.

A sample solution for analysis is prepared by diluting in an NMR tube about 15 mg, to the nearest mg, in 750 microliters of D ₂ 0 + 100 microliters of 2N DCI. DCI 2N is a solution of deuterium chloride at a concentration of twice normal in deuterium oxide. The sample is heated in a water bath boiling until completely dissolved and obtaining a clear and fluid solution. The NMR tube is allowed to warm to room temperature.

The proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum is then acquired at 25 ° C at 400 MHz.

Referring to the article of XU and SEIB, protons H1 anhydroglucose (AGU) are identified as follows:

At 5.61 ppm and 4.64 ppm: the H1 protons of the alpha-reducing and beta-reducing terminal AGUs,

At 4.95 ppm: the protons H1 of the AGUs bound in alpha- (l, 6),

At 5.67 ppm: the H1 protons of the AGUs whose hydroxyl at position 2 is etherified; the surface is denoted S_OR2_HP,

At 5.52 ppm: H1 protons of AGUs whose hydroxyl at position 3 is etherified; the surface is denoted S_OR3_HP,

At 5.40 ppm: the H1 protons of the AGUs bound in alpha- (1, 4) and the H1 protons of the AGUs whose hydroxyl in position 6 is etherified

At 1.15 ppm: this doublet represents the methyl protons of all the fixed hydroxypropyl groups; the surface is denoted S_CH3_HP,

As stipulated in XU and SEIB, it is considered that the etherification of a hydroxypropyl group by another hydroxypropyl is negligible. The area representing the number of hydroxypropyl fixed per 100 AGU is equal to the area S_CH3_HP divided by 3.

The surface S_OR6 representing the number of protons H1 of the AGUs whose hydroxyl in position 6 is etherified is calculated as follows: S_OR6_HP = (S_CH3_HP) / 3 - S_OR2_HP - S_OR6_HP.

One calculates the sum of the surfaces of the signals of the protons H1 whose hydroxyl is etherified, denoted S_OR_HP_tot: S_OR_HP_tot = S_OR2_HP + S_OR3_HP + S_OR6_HP. The proportions of the three different hydroxypropyl ethers (denoted by HP) as a percentage of AGU are then calculated:

% of substituted AGU HP in position 2 = 100 x S_OR2_HP / S_OR_HP_tot

% of substituted AGU HP in position 3 = 100 x S_OR3_HP / S_OR_HP_ot

% of substituted AGU HP at position 6 = 100 x S_OR6_HP / S_OR_HP_tot Proton NMR method of identification and quantification of the positions of the carboxymethyl groups of the Ech HP + CM sample:

This method is valid for a starch modified firstly with hydroxypropyls, then secondly with carboxymethyls, and whose NMR spectrum after hydroxypropylation and before carboxymethylation, was analyzed according to the preceding method (method for Ech_HP).

A sample solution for analysis is prepared by diluting in an NMR tube about 15 mg, to the nearest mg, in 750 microliters of D ₂ 0 + 100 microliters of 2N DCI. DCI 2N is a solution of deuterium chloride at a concentration of twice normal in deuterium oxide. The sample is heated in boiling water bath until complete dissolution and obtaining a clear and fluid solution. The NMR tube is allowed to warm to room temperature.

At 4.95 ppm: the protons H1 of the AGUs bound in alpha- (l, 6),

At 5.67 ppm: the H1 protons of the AGUs whose hydroxyl at position 2 is etherified; the surface is noted S_OR2_HP + CM,

At 5.52 ppm: H1 protons of AGUs whose hydroxyl at position 3 is etherified; the surface is denoted S_OR3_HP + CM,

At 5.40 ppm: the H1 protons of the AGUs bound in alpha- (1, 4) and the H1 protons of the AGUs whose hydroxyl in position 6 is etherified At 1.15 ppm: this doublet represents the methyl protons of all the fixed hydroxypropyl groups; the surface is denoted S_CH3_HP,

At 4.22 ppm: this doublet represents the protons of all the fixed carboxymethyl groups; the surface is denoted S_CH2_CM,

The number of hydroxypropyls fixed per 100 AGU equal to the surface S_CH3_HP divided by 3. The number of carboxymethyls fixed per 100 AGU is equal to the area S_CH2_CM divided by 2.

The OR2 and OR3 signals representing the totality of the ethers in position 2, 3 and 6, whether they are hydroxypropyl or carboxymethyl, are integrated. In order to determine the amount of carboxymethyl ether for each position, the results obtained for the analysis of the only hydroxypropylated Ech_HP sample are taken into account. The surfaces corresponding to the protons H1 of the AGUs whose hydroxyl is carboxymethyl are thus calculated:

- In position 2: S_OR2_CM = S_OR2_HP + CM - S_OR2_HP

- In position 3: S_OR3_CM = S_OR3_HP + CM - S_OR3_HP

- In position 6: S_OR6_CM = (S_CH3_HP) / 3 + (S_CH2_CM) / 2 - S_OR2_CM - S_OR3_CM - S_OR6_HP

We calculate the sum of the surfaces of the H1 proton signals whose hydroxyl is etherified, denoted S_OR_CM_tot: S_OR_CM_tot = S_OR2_CM + S_OR3_CM + S_OR6_CM.

The proportions of the three different carboxymethyl ethers (denoted CM) are then calculated as a percentage of AGU:

% of substituted AGU CM at position 2 = 100 x S_OR2_CM / S_OR_CM_tot% of substituted AGU CM at position 3 = 100 x S_OR3_CM / S_OR_CM_tot% of substituted AGU CM at position 6 = 100 x S_OR6_CM / S_OR_CM_tot

Comparative results:

A starch modified by the process of the state of the art (as in Example 1) is compared by hydroxypropylation with DS 0.26 (denoted EDT5) to starches prepared by the process according to the invention (such as as in Example 2) by hydroxypropylation at DS 0.20 (denoted ROQ1) or DS 0.57 (denoted ROQ 11). The three modified starches were analyzed by the proton NMR method for determining the positions of the substituents on HP sample. The percentages of hydroxypropyl groups attached at position 2, position 3 and position 6 (Table 9) were thus quantified.

It is found that the starches modified by the process according to the invention have a distribution of hydroxypropyl substituents which is very different from that of the modified starch according to the method of the state of the art, namely that:

Position 2 has a percentage of substitution that is at least 6% lower

Positions 3 and 6 have percentages of substitutions greater than 3%.

TABLE 9 Comparative Positions of Hydroxypropyl Substituents According to the State of the Art and According to the Invention

The starch modified by the method of the state of the art (as in Example 1) by hydroxypropylation at DS 0.26 (previous EDT5) was then modified by carboxymethylation at DS 0.15 (denoted EDT6 ).

The starch prepared by the process according to the invention (as in Example 2) by hydroxypropylation at DS 0.20 (previous ROQ.1) was then modified by carboxymethylation at DS 0.27 (denoted ROQ. ).

The two modified starches were analyzed by the proton NMR method for determining the positions of the substituents on HP + CM sample. The percentages of hydroxypropyl groups attached at the 2-position, the 3-position and the 6-position were then quantified (Table 10).

It is found that the starches modified by the process according to the invention have a carboxymethyl substituent distribution which is very different from that of the starch modified according to the method of the state of the art, namely that: Position 2 has a substitution percentage greater than or equal to 1.5%. Position 3 has a percentage of substitution that is at least 2% lower.

Position 6 has a substitution percentage of at least 4% higher.

Table 10: Comparative positions of carboxymethyl substituents according to the state of the art and according to the invention

Claims

1. Modified polysaccharide material comprising anhydroglucose units, preferably a modified starch, completely soluble in water, the hydroxyl functions of said anhydroglucose units being substituted by at least one hydroxyalkyl chemical group and characterized in that the hydroxyalkyl groups substituting the hydroxyl functions are distributed as follows:

at most 68%, preferably at most 65%, very preferably at most 64% at position 2,

2. Modified polysaccharide material according to claim 1, the hydroxyl functions of said anhydroglucose units being substituted by at least one carboxyalkyl chemical group and characterized in that the carboxyalkyl groups substituting the hydroxyl functions are distributed as follows:

And / or at least 4%, preferably at least 5% in position 6,

The sum of the% of the carboxyalkyl groups substituting the hydroxyl functions being equal to 100% and these% being measured by proton NMR.

3. Modified polysaccharide material according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the hydroxyalkyl group is chosen from hydroxypropyl or hydroxyethyl, preferably hydroxypropyl.

4. Modified polysaccharide material according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the hydroxyalkyl group is a hydroxypropyl group, and characterized in that its degree of substitution in hydroxypropyl is between 0.05 and 2, preferably between 0.1. and 1, and most preferably between 0.15 and 0.6.

5. Modified polysaccharide material according to one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that the carboxyalkyl group is carboxymethyl.

6. Modified polysaccharide material according to claim 5, characterized in that its degree of carboxymethyl substitution is between 0.03 and 2, preferably between 0.03 and 1, and most preferably between 0.03 and 0.3.

7. Modified polysaccharide material according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is further crosslinked with a crosslinking agent selected from long-range crosslinking agents or short-range crosslinking agents, and preferably from short-chain crosslinking agents, and most preferably with sodium trimetaphosphate.

8. modified polysaccharide material according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is in the form of a powder which has a mean diameter by volume, measured by dry laser diffraction, between 10 pm and 1 mm preferably between 50 pm and 500 pm.

9. Modified polysaccharide material according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is soluble cold, preferably at least 95% amorphous, more preferably at least 98% amorphous, and most preferably completely amorphous.

10. A process for modifying a polysaccharide material comprising anhydroglucose units, preferably a polysaccharide material according to one of claims 1 to 9, comprising a solubilization, preferably complete, of this polysaccharide material, and a homogeneous chemical functionalization of the solubilized polysaccharide material, characterized in that:

11. Process for modifying a polysaccharide material according to claim 10, characterized in that the functionalization comprises a non-crosslinking chemical modification, a hydroxyalkylation, preferably a hydroxypropylation, carried out until a polysaccharide material having a degree of substitution between 0.05 and 2, preferably between 0.1 and 1 and most preferably between 0.15 and 0.6.

12. Process for modifying a polysaccharide material according to claim 11, characterized in that the functionalization comprises a second non-crosslinking chemical modification, a carboxyalkylation, preferably a carboxymethylation, carried out until obtaining a polysaccharide material having a degree of substitution. between 0.03 and 2, preferably between 0.03 and 1, and most preferably between 0.03 and 0.3.

13. A method of modifying a polysaccharide material according to claim 12, characterized in that the homogeneous chemical functionalization comprises at least a third and last crosslinking chemical modification with a short-chain crosslinking agent, and in that the crosslinking agent with short distance is a polyfunctional molecular reagent without carbon chain consisting of 8 to 30 atoms or heteroatoms, preferably sodium trimetaphosphate, implemented at a dose of between 100 ppm and 10,000 ppm, preferably between 500 ppm and 5000 ppm.

14. Use of at least one modified polysaccharide material, preferably a modified starch, according to one of claims 1 to 9, as organic adjuvant in a dry mortar composition, preferably dry mortar for tile adhesive, and most preferably mortar for ceramic tile adhesive.

15. Use of at least one modified polysaccharide material, preferably a modified starch, according to one of claims 1 to 9, in a gypsum base mortar, preferably in a casting plaster or in plaster for plasterboard.