Appearance: It is white or slightly yellow powder, odorless, tasteless and non-toxic.
Water solubility & thickening ability: Soluble in cool water and form transparent and viscous solution
Solubility in organic solvents: It is soluble in some of the organic solvents as well as in the mixture of water and some organic solvents.
Salt resistance: It is fairly stable in metal salts or organic electrolyte water solution
Surface activity: Its water solution is surface active, thus it has emulsifying ability and is relatively stable, it also can be used as the protection colloid.
Low ash content: It is non-ionic and has very low ash content