What is it about?

Some types of starch (e.g. cassava and waxy maize), classified as A-type, can quickly transform into a gel state when mixed with a mixture of an ionic liquid and water in a specific ratio, even at room temperature. In contrast, the other starch types (e.g. potato and high amylose maize), classified as B-type, can hardly change under the same condition. This study has shown that for A-type starches, the ionic liquid/water mixture can penetrate into the starch granule interior, the most vulnerable part, through the granule surface pores to disrupt the granule structure, whereas B-type starches, when mechanically broken by ball milling to expose the granule interior, can still be processed by the ionic liquid/water mixture at room temperature, just like A-type starches.

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Why is it important?

The starch application requires gelating starch, namely destroying native starch granules in an aqueous environment resulting in a homogeneous gel. This usually requires heating. This can hardly be achieved even at over 100 °C for e.g. high-amylose starches. Regarding this, this research can provide insights into developing starch gelation processes with aqueous ionic liquids with reduced heating, with the benefits of easy processing and energy reduction.

Perspectives

I like to understand why when an interesting phenomenon is observed. For the different effects of the aqueous ionic liquid on the gelation of different starches, I considered different factors and made assumptions to test. I think this is the way to do science. I suggested that the way ionic liquids treat starch (unlike cellulose) might be special because the starch granule structure is heterogeneous. I found that the mechanism was related to the differences in granule structure between different types of starch.

Dr Fengwei (David) Xie
Newcastle University

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: For efficient treatment of starch using aqueous ionic liquid at room temperature, Sustainable Materials and Technologies, July 2023, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.susmat.2023.e00592.
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