No abstract

A new method of physical modification of starch in the presence of high concentrated salt solution is presented, called “Osmotic Pressure Treatment” (OPT). OPT was introduced in order to produce the same physically modified products as obtained by conventional heat‐moisture treatment (HMT) of starch. Potato starch was selected for the comparative study of the two methods. For the OPT method, potato starch was suspended in a saturated solution of sodium sulfate and heated in an autoclave at 105°C and 120°C ,which corresponded to the calculated osmotic pressures of 328 and 341 atm (332 and 345 bar, respectively) (assuming sodium sulfate dissociates completely) for 15, 30 and 60 min, respectively. For the HMT method, starch with 20% moisture content was placed in a Duran bottle, then the same heat treatment method in the autoclave was applied. Light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that OPT of starch changed the shape of the starch granules to a folded structure, while the starches remained unchanged after HMT. The RVA viscogram for the OPT starch exhibited a decrease in the peak viscosity without a breakdown and an increase of the pasting temperature when increasing the temperature and time, which was in an agreement with the viscosity patterns for the HMT starches. X‐ray diffraction patterns were altered from B to A+B for the HMT and from B to A type for the OPT starch when treated at 120°C. After OPT, the gelatinization temperatures (To, Tp, and Tc) of the starch increased significantly with increasing temperature and time, whereas only the Tc of starch increases after HMT. The biphasic broadening of the peaks (high Tc‐To) can be explained by an inhomogeneous heat transfer during HMT. Narrow peaks in the DSC curve can be an indication for a better homogeneity of the OPT samples. However, both methods provide a similar decrease in the gelatinization enthalpy (ΔH). The amylose‐amylopectin ratio calculated from the HPSEC patterns was strongly increased for HMT starches at 105°C for 60 min and 120°C for 30 min and decreased after treatment at 120°C for 60 min. For OPT starches the ratio was strongly increased at 120°C for 15 min and decreased after prolong heating. The OPT provides a uniform heat distribution in the starch suspension. This allows the modified starch to be produced on a larger scale.

Sago starch was modified by osmotic-pressure treatment (OPT) and heat-moisture treatment (HMT) and physicochemical characteristics were compared. In OPT, sago starch was suspended in saturated sodium sulfate solution and heated for 1 h at 100, 110 and 1207C, corresponding to a calculated osmotic pressure of 32,728, 33,640 and 34,552 kPa (assuming sodium sulfate dissociates completely), respectively, and in HMT, sago starch with 20% moisture content was used. Change of X-ray diffraction pattern from C-type to A-type was obtained for OPT and HMT starch at 1107C and 120 7C, respectively. RVA viscograms of both OPT and HMT starch exhibited a decrease of peak and breakdown viscosity but increase of final viscosity and pasting temperature. Onset (T o ), peak (T p ), and conclusion temperature (T c ) of gelatinization of both OPT and HMT starch increased significantly with increase of treatment temperature. Biphasic broadening of T p was observed for HMT starch indicating an inhomogeneous heat transfer during HMT. The observed narrow peaks of DSC curves indicated better homogeneity of OPT. These properties suggest that OPT starch is more suitable for large-scale production.

Tapioca starch was crosslinked with 0.1 % sodium trimetaphosphate (STMP) in the presence of alkali and of osmotic pressure enhancing salts such as sodium sulfate and sodium chloride. The addition of various percentages of sodium sulfate to the crosslinking reaction mixture changed the pasting properties of the product starch as measured in the RVA (Rapid Visco Analyser). Peak viscosity (PV) and final viscosity (FV) are first increased with the increase in osmotic pressure followed by a decrease of the viscosities after further pressure increase. Breakdown (BD) is decreased in line with the increase of the osmotic pressure with very good correlation (R2 = 0.96). These pasting characteristics are attributed to the inhibited swelling without disruption of the starch granules due to the crosslinking reaction. If sodium chloride is used as an osmotic pressure enhancer of the crosslinking reaction, both pasting properties (PV, FV) decrease linearly with the increase in osmotic pressure with very good correlation (R2 = 0.98 and 0.99, respectively). The BD is dramatically decreased to zero (no breakdown) after applying the osmotic pressure and remains zero after further increase in osmotic pressure. These properties are also attributed to the pasting characteristics of the crosslinked starch. The increase in pasting temperature (PT) with increasing osmotic pressure for both sodium sulfate and sodium chloride demonstrates the increase of the gelatinization temperature of the starch granules. The enhancement of the osmotic pressure can promote the activity of the crosslinking agent.