Alginate Industrial Uses
The use of alginates does is not limited to foods, pharmaceuticals or medicine. Alginates are also used in wide array of industrial applications. Some of the most common uses of alginates in the industrial applications include as adhesives, paints, dyes, paper coating, textiles, fish food, and ceramics, welding rod coatings, printing and fertilizers. Many industries use different kinds of alginates mainly to significantly improve the performance of specific products. Some of the industries to which alginates are used extensively include the following:
Alginate Uses in Industry
Textiles
In the industry of textiles, it is known that sodium alginate has quite long history, particularly in textile warp sizing, printing paste and dyeing finishing. Of these three applications, the printing paste is its main and leading application. Sodium alginate is primarily used as paste to reactive dyes due to its distinctive properties.
The chemical reaction that was generated in between the fiber and the reactive dye helps for the dye to fix to the fiber. As a result makes the dyed fiber brittle, hard and with no so good of a color. This is where sodium alginate can help as a printing paste wherein there won’t be any impact in the dying process between the fiber and reactive dyes.
As such, clear and real bright decorative patterns can be printed out with good color and good feel. Sodium alginate can be used as printing paste for cotton, silk, wool and even synthetic fiber. Similarly, sodium alginate that has low viscosity helps for the printing to be stable and for the printing paste to be of higher content.
With that, the coloring yield is increase and a compact film is produced in the drying process. In addition, alginate can also be used for color paste substrate when you apply patterns to scarf, print fabrics, towel, etc which is a much safer and easier substance to use. At the same time, it’s easier to be decomposed compared to any other textile printing substrate.
Printing
Sodium alginate is also widely used in the dyeing and printing industry. It is used primarily as paste for reactive dyes and is considered to be far superior to any other kinds such. With using sodium alginate, it is easier to print out textiles that comes with clear lines, brighter patterns, greater plasticity, much favorable permeability and color-yield that’s well-distributed.
Compared to any other printing paste, sodium alginate is considered to be the best in modern dyeing and printing which is why it is widely used for printing in fabrics including cotton, nylon, silk and feather. Additionally, sodium alginate is also particularly used in the printing sizing preparation in allocated dyeing.
Paper
In terms of the paper industry, the sodium alginate with great water solubility can ideally replace a part of the rosin pulp. It can be used to experience the sizing process on the surface of the paper. But aside from this application, sodium alginate is popularly used in increasing the paper surface’s smooth degree. At the same time, it helps in regulating the absorption of the printing ink as well as the wax and grease. Lastly, sodium alginate is ideal in improving the paper’s crumpling resistance.
Dye or Paint Thickener
Welding Rod Manufacturing
Example of industrial uses of sodium and calcium alginate include fertilizer, paper processing, a thickner in inks, paints and dyes, fish food binder, welding rod coatings, and the printining and textile industries
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Textile Fabric Printing
Paper Making
Paints and Dyes
Alginates have some applications that are not related to either their viscosity or gel properties. They act as stabilizers in paint and dyes to suspend the colors evenly throughout the product so it doesn't settle or precipitate out, thus preserving the longevity of the paint and dye products.
Welding Rods
One of the simple uses of alginate is in producing welding rods. It is conveniently used in welding rods production such that of flux binder. Alginate is mainly used as coating to welding rods so as to act as flux and control its immediate vicinity’s conditions such as oxygen or hydrogen availability or of temperature.
Fertilizer
Liquid seaweed is known to be one of the best fertilizers you can use and yet not a lot of people think of buying them. Liquid seaweed as a fertilizer is organic and is a great sustainable source. It’s a great source being that it can be harvested without the environment being harmed at all. If you decide to use liquid seaweed fertilizer, you will find that most of them are made from refined alginates and Kelp.
The refined alginates are a seaweed variety which is capable of growing up to more than 509 meters. When it comes to seaweed fertilizers, the common trace elements you can find include zinc, potassium, magnesium, iron and nitrogen which are all helpful to that of the plants. With that, it makes seaweed fertilizer quite a useful substance for helping your plants grow.
Fish Food Binder
One of the amazing qualities of alginate is its ability to thicken a substance. That ability can also be used for fish food. It can be used as a thickening agent for fish feed, pet food, etc and as a binder as well. That’s one of the many applications of alginate in fish industry.
