Patent ID: 8889653

Claim:
An additive consisting of a grafted water-soluble or water-dispersible guar formed from an unsaturated vinyl monomer having a functional group selected from quaternary ammonium and the guar and made according to a method consisting of the steps of: (1) forming a mixture comprised of the unsaturated vinyl monomer having a functional group selected from quaternary ammonium and the guar; (2) drying the mixture; and (3) irradiating the mixture with an amount of electron beam radiation sufficient to form an unsaturated monomer-water-soluble or water-dispersible guar graft copolymer, wherein the graft copolymer is depolymerized to a molecular weight lower than the molecular weight of the ungrafted guar, and the guar in the copolymer has a molecular weight of between 100,000 and 700,000 Daltons.