Epidermal biopolysaccharides from plant seeds enable biodegradable turbulent drag reduction

Scientific Reports
Anoop Rajappan, Gareth H McKinley

Abstract

The high cost of synthetic polymers has been a key impediment limiting the widespread adoption of polymer drag reduction techniques in large-scale engineering applications, such as marine drag reduction. To address consumable cost constraints, we investigate the use of high molar mass biopolysaccharides, present in the mucilaginous epidermis of plant seeds, as inexpensive drag reducers in large Reynolds number turbulent flows. Specifically, we study the aqueous mucilage extracted from flax seeds (Linum usitatissimum) and compare its drag reduction efficacy to that of poly(ethylene oxide) or PEO, a common synthetic polymer widely used as a drag reducing agent in aqueous flows. Macromolecular and rheological characterisation confirm the presence of high molar mass (≥2 MDa) polysaccharides in the extracted mucilage, with an acidic fraction comprising negatively charged chains. Frictional drag measurements, performed inside a bespoke Taylor-Couette apparatus, show that the as-extracted mucilage has comparable drag reduction performance under turbulent flow conditions as aqueous PEO solutions, while concurrently offering advantages in terms of raw material cost, availability, and bio-compatibility. Our results indicate that plant-so...Continue Reading

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Citations

Aug 4, 2021·Colloids and Surfaces. B, Biointerfaces·Eunseok SeoSang Joon Lee
Aug 31, 2021·Physical Review Letters·Sami YamaniIrmgard Bischofberger
Oct 9, 2021·Soft Matter·Kathleen T LauserMichelle A Calabrese

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
rheology
size exclusion chromatography
light scattering

Software Mentioned

simeq

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