Environmentally friendly starch-based foams nucleated and reinforced by two kinds of polysaccharide-based crystals were successfully developed through two-step extrusions. The effects of varying additions of crystals on the properties of the starchbased foams were studied. We found that the crystals added resulted in the foams having more homogeneous cell structures and significantly improved their mechanical performances. The foam containing 5 wt % cellulose crystals had the lowest water absorption, highest resilience, and best compressive strength. We attribute this synergy to the nucleation and reinforcement interactions in the extrusion foaming enabled by adding cellulose crystals and starch crystals. Cellulose crystals have higher thermal stability and crystallinity than starch crystals. Hence, the cellulose crystals provide better processability, viscoelastic properties, and higher glass transition temperature for starch-based foams, generally improving foam properties. The apparent density (ρ a ) of starchbased foams was within the range of 19.94 to 32.53 kg/m 3 , which is equivalent to that of the commercial expanded polystyrene (EPS) and significantly lower than that of most other extruded starch-based foams. This technique has been used in biodegradable packaging, such as loose-filler, insulation, and shockproof boxes.
Casein phosphopeptide (CPP) has been widely used as micronutrient supplementation for certain populations. However, its solubility performance is far from satisfying. In this work, instant CPP powders with micropore structures were fabricated by supercritical fluid-assisted atomization (SAA) using supercritical CO2 fluid (SC-CO2) as an atomizing agent. The effects of the processing parameters (temperature, time, and pressure) on SC-CO2 absorption rate and dissolution rate were systematically evaluated and studied. The viscosity of the CPP solution increased with increased pressure of SC-CO2 as pressure increased its solubility. The processing conditions are optimized as follows: 40 °C, 40 min, and 8.27 MPa, with an SC-CO2 absorption rate of about 8 wt.%. The dissolution time of the SAA-CPP powders was significantly decreased from 1800 s to 54 s at room temperature, due to the micropore structures and almost 10 times increase in the specific surface area of SAA-CPP. The bioactivities of the instant SAA-CPP, especially the calcium-binding capacity, were also evaluated and showed no observable difference. Among the four CPPs prepared in different ways in this work, SAA-CPP had better dissolution performance. The results show that SAA technology is a promising way to prepare instant polypeptide powders.
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