You are on page 1of 18

BIO-RESOURCE , PAPER & COATINGS

SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY


UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA
ASSIGNMENT IWK 305/2

TITLE

: BIODEGRADABLE & ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY STARCH

NAME

: FARID AIMAN BIN NASIR

MATRIX NO.

: 107970

LECTURER

: DR. TAY GUAN SENG

Biodegradable
Biodegradation is the chemical dissolution of materials by bacteria or other biological means.
Although often conflated, biodegradable is distinct in meaning from compostable. While
biodegradable simply means to be consumed by microorganisms and return to compounds
found in nature, "compostable" makes the specific demand that the object break down in a
compost pile.

The term is often used in relation to ecology, waste management, biomedicine, and the natural
environment (bioremediation) and is now commonly associated with environmentally friendly
products that are capable of decomposing back into natural elements. Organic material can be
degraded aerobically with oxygen,

or anaerobically,

without

oxygen. Biosurfactant,

an

extracellular surfactant secreted by microorganisms, enhances the biodegradation process.

Biodegradable matter is generally organic material such as plant and animal matter and other
substances originating from living organisms, or artificial materials that are similar enough to
plant and animal matter to be put to use by microorganisms. Some microorganisms have a
naturally occurring, microbial catabolic diversity to degrade, transform or accumulate a huge
range of compounds including hydrocarbons (e.g. oil), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs),
polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pharmaceutical substances, radionuclides, pesticides and
metals.

Major methodological breakthroughs in microbial biodegradation have enabled detailed


genomic, metagenomic, proteomic, bioinformatic and other high-throughput analyses of
environmentally

relevant microorganisms providing

unprecedented

insights

into

key

biodegradative pathways and the ability of microorganisms to adapt to changing environmental


conditions. Products that contain biodegradable matter and non-biodegradable matter are often
marketed as biodegradable.

Starch
Starch or amylum is

a carbohydrate consisting

of

large

number

of glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced


by all green plants as an energy store. It is the most common carbohydrate in
the human diet and is contained in large amounts in such staple
foods as potatoes, wheat, maize (corn), rice, and cassava.

Pure starch is a white, tasteless and odorless powder that is insoluble in cold water or alcohol. It
consists

of

two

types

of

molecules:

the

linear

and helical amylose and

the

branched amylopectin. Depending on the plant,


starch generally contains 20 to 25% amylose and
75 to 80% amylopectin by weight. Glycogen, the
glucose store of animals, is a more branched
version of amylopectin.

Starch is processed to produce many of the sugars


in processed foods. Dissolving starch in warm water
gives wheat paste, which can be used as a
thickening, stiffening or gluing agent. The biggest
industrial non-food use of starch is as adhesive in
the papermaking process. Starch can be applied to
parts of some garments before ironing, to stiffen
them; this is less usual now than in the past.

To most people, starch is viewed as a major


nutritional material to provide energy for human
or as a major functional ingredient in food recipes to provide characteristic viscosity,
texture, mouth-feel and consistency of many food products. However, in fact, starch has
found uses in various nonfood applications such as paper, textile, cosmetic and
pharmaceutical industries.

The Properties of Starch


Structure
While amylose was traditionally thought to be completely unbranched, it is now known that
some of its molecules contain a few branch points. Although in absolute mass only about one
quarter of the starch granules in plants consist of amylose, there are about 150 times more
amylose
molecules.

molecules
Amylose

than
is

amylopectin
much

smaller

molecule than amylopectin.

Starch becomes soluble in water when heated.


The granules swell and burst, the semicrystalline structure is lost and the smaller
amylose molecules start leaching out of the
granule, forming a network that holds water
and increasing the mixture's viscosity. This
process is called starch gelatinization.

Some cultivated plant varieties have pure


amylopectin starch without amylose, known
as waxy starches. The most used is waxy
maize, others are glutinous rice and waxy potato starch. Waxy starches have less retro
gradation, resulting in a more stable paste. High amylose starch, amylomaize, is cultivated for
the use of its gel strength and for use as a resistant starch (a starch that resists digestion) in
food products.

Hydrolysis
The enzymes that break down or hydrolyze starch into the constituent sugars are known
as amylases. Alpha-amylases are found in plants and in animals. Human saliva is rich in
amylase,

and

the pancreas also

secretes

the

enzyme.

Beta-amylase

cuts

starch

into maltose units. This process is important in the digestion of starch and is also used
in brewing, where amylase from the skin of seed grains is responsible for converting starch to
maltose.

Chemical tests
Iodine solution is used to test for starch; a dark blue color indicates the presence of starch. The
details of this reaction are not yet fully known, but it is thought that the iodine (I 3 and I5 ions) fit
inside the coils

of amylose, the charge transfers between

the iodine and

the starch, and the energy level spacings

in the resulting

complex correspond to the absorption

spectrum

in

the visible light region. The strength of the

resulting blue

color depends on the amount of amylose

present. Waxy

starches with little or no amylose present

will color red.

Starch indicator solution consisting of water, starch and iodine is often used in redox titrations:
in the presence of an oxidizing agent the solution turns blue, in the presence of reducing
agent the blue color disappears because triiodide (I3) ions break up into three iodide ions,
disassembling the starch-iodine complex. A 0.3% w/w solution is the standard concentration for
a starch indicator. It is made by adding 3 grams of soluble starch to 1 liter of heated water; the
solution is cooled before use (starch-iodine complex becomes unstable at temperatures above
35 C).

Each species of plant has a unique type of starch granules in granular size, shape and
crystallization pattern. Under the microscope, starch grains stained with iodine illuminated from
behind with polarized light show a distinctive Maltese crosseffect (also known as extinction
cross and birefringence).

Production Process
The production of potato starch comprises the steps such as delivery and unloading potatoes,
cleaning, rasping of tubers, potato juice separation, starch extraction, starch milk rafination,
dewatering of refined starch milk and starch drying.

Delivery and unloading potatoes


Potatoes are delivered to the starch plants via road or rail transport. Unloading of potatoes could
be done in two ways:
1. dry - using elevators and tippers,
2. wet - using strong jet of water.

Cleaning
Coarsely cleaning of potatoes takes place during the transport of potatoes to the scrubber by
channel. In addition, before the scrubber, straw and stones separators are installed. The main
cleaning is conducted in scrubber (different kinds of high specialized machines are used). The
remaining stones, sludge and light wastes are removed at this step. Water used for washing is
then purified and recycled back into the process.

Rasping of tubers
Most often the rasping of potato tubers is carried out with a rotary with a rotary grater. The
purpose of this stage is disruption of cell walls, which therefore release the starch. In practice,
potato cells are not entirely destroyed and part of the starch remains in the mash. Potato pulp
rapidly turns dark, because tyrosine presented in the potato is oxidised by polyphenol oxidase,
which is located in the cellular juice. Therefore, cellular juice must be separated as soon as
possible.

Potato juice separation


This allows the recovery full-value protein from juice and reduces the onerousness of water
juice as a sludge.

Starch extraction
After separation of potato juice the pulp is directed to the washing starch station, to isolate the
starch. Most used are stream-oriented washers. In these machines pulp diluted with water is
washed with a strong stream of water to flush out the milk starch. The mash smuggling with
water is a waste product dewatered potato pulp. Starch milk is contaminated by small fiber
particles (potato tissue fragments) and the remaining components of the potato juice thats
why it is called raw starch milk.

Starch milk raffination


Raw starch milk is purified in the refining process. This involves the removal of small fibers from
the starch milk and then the removal of juice water and starch milk condensation. For this
purpose, the screens and hydrocyclones are commonly used. Hydrocyclones due to the low
output (approximately 0.3 cubic meter per hour) are connected in parallel and works as
multihydrocyclones. For the starch milk desanding bihydrocyclones are used. In order to prevent
enzymatic darkening of potato juice the chemical refining of starch is carried out using sulfurous
acid. Refined starch milk has a density of about 22 Be, which is about 38% of starch.

Dewatering of refined starch milk and starch drying


It is a suspension of starch in water, which needs dewatering up to 20% of moisture. This is
equivalent to the moisture content of commercial starch when stored. High temperature cannot
be use in this process because of the danger of starch gelatinization which destoyes granular
structure. It may result in significant changes of the functional starch properties. Therefore,
removal of excess water from milk shall be done only under conditions that prevent the
gelatinization of starch.

Dewatering of refined starch milk is carried out in two stages. In the first stage the excess water
is removed by means of a rotary vacuum filter. Secondly moist starch is dried, without starch
pasting. For this purpose a pneumatic dryier is used. In this device moist starch (with water
content 36 40%) is floating in strong and hot (160C) air flow and then dried during 2 3
seconds. Then, the starch is separated from hot air in cyclons. Due to short time of high
temperature drying and intensive water evaporation from the starch granules, its surface is
heated only to 40C.
Dried starch contains about 21% of water. During the pneumatic transport starch looses
additional 1% of water.
Received starch is storing separately in silos, in jute bags (100 kg) or paper bags (50 kg). There
are three kinds of starch: superior extra, superior and prima. Different sorts of starch depend on
degree of purity and whiteness. The differences between them are in an acidity and content of
mineral substances.
Table 1. Potato starch production characteristic.

Processing

2.000 t per 24 hours

Ratio of starch extraction

87%

Water expenditure:

6.5m3/t

- washing
- technological

2.5m3/t
4.0m3/t

Water steam expenditure

400 500 kg/t starch

SO2 expenditure

0.8 kg/t potatoes

Yield: per ton of potatoes

(16,8%) 175 kg starch

Loss:

about 10%

- potatoes losses (transport and washing) 0.5%


- pulp starch losses

8 9%

-juicy water starch losses

1.0%

The water which is used in starch production (dirty water) for transportation and cleaning
doesnt have to be totally clean. Thats why clarifier usage enables application of closed cycle
which noticeably reduces amount of cleaning water that is needed. On the other hand,
requirements for quality of technological water are the same as for drinking water
(microbiological and chemical contamination). In addition, this type of water should contain low
amounts of metals such as: Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn; which has bad influence on starch properties.

Waste products
Potato juice - is a liquid waste product separated from the potatoes pulp using centrifuges or
decanters. It contains about 5% of dry substance, including about 2% valuable protein, of high
nutritional value, minerals, vitamins and other. In modern starch plants separation of the juice
from the mash is used. We can get about 600 kg of coagulated protein from each 1000 kg of
potatoes. The final product contains about 80% protein (with the digestibility of about 90%),
2.5% minerals, 1.5% fat, 6% nitrogen-free substances and 10% water. Because of the full range
of the egzogenicamino acids the formulation is a valuable protein feed.
Potato pulp is a side product of washing the starch from the mash. It contains all non-starchy
substances insoluble in water (fragments of wall of cells) and bounded starch which cannot be
mechanically separated from the blended parties of potato. The pulp contains 30% of starch,
which is not extracted because of economical reasons. Thats why the pulp is often used in
animal feeding. The pulp contains a lot of water and inconvenient in transportation and storage.
Thats why it is really often dried and dehydrated.
Juicy water is a liquid side product obtained after refining of starch milk. It is ten times diluted
potato juice. Due to this fact, it is a sludge and it cannot be discharged to open water.

A general flow chart of


starch production

Industrial Application
Papermaking
Paper industry is one of the largest users of starch. Starch is, in fact, the third most prevalent
raw material component in paper, only surpassed by cellulose fiber and mineral filler.
Depending on the type of
paper
content

produced,
in

starch

the

final

products may be as high


as 10% by paper weight.
Starch

used

in

paper

manufacture is generally
found in three application areas which are wet end internal sizing, surface sizing and coating.

The general components of paper machine are illustrated in Figure 1. In the paper making
process, a dilute suspension of fiber (0.5-1%) and chemicals are pumped to the head box which
feeds the fiber suspension evenly onto the moving wire conveyor belt. Large amount of water is
drawn away as the fiber suspension moves along with the wire conveyor belt. At the end of the
wire section, a moist sheet of paper is formed. It is then passes through a series of pressing
cylinders where more moisture is removed. The remaining water in the paper sheet is further
removed in the drying section where the sheet is passed over a large number of steam-heated
drying cylinders. At this point, the sheet is almost completely dry.

Way down in the drying section is the size press where a starch paste can be applied on the
paper sheet to improve surface properties. Following the size press, the sheet is dried again. If
coated papers are produced, the pigment coating may be applied at this point. In some cases,
the coating may be performed on an off-machine coater (not integral to the paper machine). The
paper is then passed through a vertical series of hot polished iron rollers (called calenders) to
smooth and polish the surface. The paper sheet is finally wound onto reels for further
processing if desired.

Figure1: Papermaking machine

Starch can be employed during papermaking process in three main areas:


1. Wet end refers to the portion of the process which contains cellulosic pulp fiber and
other small particle components (such as cellulosic fine, fillers, etc.) dispersed in a large
volume of water. Starch is commonly added in the wet end of the paper machine to
serve as a retention and dewatering aid. Although native starch can be used, cationic
starches have been preferred wet-end starch additives. By being positively charged,
they are attracted to the negatively charged cellulose fiber and the negatively charged
fillers. This increases fiber-to-fiber and fiber-to-filler bonding; thus, promoting a high
degree of filler retention as well as strength increases at low application levels compared
with native starch (Lawton, 2000). The cationic starches that are commercially available
are the tertiary amino or the quaternary ammonium derivatives. While the quaternary
ammonium starches carry a cationic load in all pH ranges, the tertiary amino starches
are only cationic in the acid range. Therefore their possibilities of application are limited.
As a result of the progressive conversion from an acid to an alkaline operation in the
manufacture of paper and the increased use of calcium carbonate in the wet end
system, the use of tertiary amino starches is diminishing (Hellwig et al., 1992).

2. Surface sizing In the paper industry, the largest volume of starch is used for surface
sizing. Surface sizing is an operation in which paper runs through a sizing solution and
then through sizing rolls. These rolls press the sizing into the paper and remove the
excess from the surface of the paper. The main purpose of surface sizing is to improve
surface properties, to give a better writing and printing surface and to minimize linting.
The concentration of starch in a sizing solution can range from 2 to about 15%
depending on the type of size press machine and product requirements (Maurer, 2001).
Cooked unmodified starch is too high in viscosity for most sizing operation; thus the
viscosity of the starch paste is usually reduced. This can be done at the paper mill by
either enzyme or thermochemical conversion. However, these depolymerized starches
have tendency to retrograde or reassociate resulting in a less sizing performance.
Alternatively, preconverted or modified starches may be obtained from the starch
manufacturers. Oxidized starch is one of the most common modified starches for use in
surface sizing because of its good film forming characteristic and reduced tendency to
retrogradation. However, when the paper is recycled, oxidized starch which contains
negative charge can act as a dispersant and contribute to the loss of filler and the starch
itself to the waste water causing pollution problem. Substituted starches such as
acetylated starch, hydroxyethylated starch and cationic starch are gaining popularity in
surface sizing operation. Beside their benefits of reduced retrogradation, these starches
do not cause filler dispersion if the paper is repulped in the recycled process system.

Fugure 2 Scanning electron micrograph of starch acetate nanoparticles

3. Paper coating In paper coating, a layer of pigment, adhesive and other supplementary
materials is applied to the surface of paper. Coating provides whiteness, brightness,
gloss and opacity to the paper as well as a smoother and more uniform surface. Pigment
is the primary material for coating paper. The most commonly used pigments are clay,
calcium carbonate, titanium dioxide and talc. In paper coating operation, starch is used
as an adhesive or binder to bind the pigment particles to each other and to the paper.
Starches used for surface sizing as described above can be used as coating binder as
well. However, coating starches need to have lower viscosities than starched used in
other segments in the paper industry. This is because there is a need for the presence of
high amount of starch in coating formula to provide strong binding for the pigment and at
the same time the coating should still be leveled and applied as a film on the paper
surface. As previously mentioned in surface sizing section, the negative charge of
oxidized starch could contribute to the loss of pigment filler if the finished paper is
repulped; thus, the popularity of oxidized starch as a coating binder has been declined.
Hydroxyethylated starch is considered one of the best materials for use as coating
binders due to its excellent film forming properties and strong resistance to
retrogradation. However, higher cost usually limits its use in the conventional coatings.

Corrugated board adhesives


Corrugated board adhesives are the next largest application of
non-food starches globally. Starch glues are mostly based on
unmodified

native

starches,

plus

some

additive

such

as borax and caustic soda. Part of the starch is gelatinized to


carry

the

slurry

sedimentation.

of

uncooked

starches

and

prevent

This

opaque glue is called a


SteinHall adhesive. The glue is applied on tips of the
fluting. The fluted paper is pressed to paper called
liner. This is then dried under high heat, which causes
the

rest

of

the

uncooked

starch

in

glue

to

swell/gelatinize. This gelatinizing makes the glue a fast


and strong adhesive for corrugated board production.

Clothing starch
Clothing or laundry starch is a liquid that is prepared by mixing a vegetable starch in water
(earlier

preparations

also

had

to

be

boiled),

and

is

used

in

the laundering of clothes. Starch was widely used in Europe in the 16th and 17th
centuries to stiffen the wide collars and ruffs of fine linen which surrounded the
necks of the well-to-do. During the 19th century and early 20th century, it was
stylish to stiffen the collars and sleeves of men's shirts and the ruffles of
girls' petticoats by applying starch to them as the clean clothes were being ironed.
Aside from the smooth, crisp edges it gave to clothing, it served practical purposes
as well. Dirt and sweat from a person's neck and wrists would stick to the starch
rather than to the fibers of the clothing, and would easily wash away along with the
starch. After each laundering, the starch would be reapplied. Today, the product is sold
in aerosol cans for home use.

Application of potato starch


The usage of raw starch is relatively small. Starch is mainly used as material both in the
manufacture of food and non-food products. In food processing a lot of starch is converted to
starch hydrolysates. Also it is used to receive puddings, jellies, desserts, caramel and other food
products. In addition, starch is processed to modified starch in order to change material
properties. The modified starches have a wide range of applications in many industries.
Applications of starch in non-food sectors include: production of dextrin and adhesives, drilling
fluids, biodegradable plastics, gypsum binders and many other. In addition modified starches
are used as fillers, emulsion stabilizers, consistency modifiers etc. Other important fields of
starch application are textiles, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and paints.

Conclusion
Although the consumption of starch by the paper industry is presently high, many
synthetic

materials are available that can substitute for

starch. With

an

properties

and rapid advancements

technology,

these synthetic substitutes are often preferred

especially

for the production of high grade paper due to

their higher

performance. Currently this challenge can be

met

by

many advantages that starch has to offer.

Starch is an

inexpensive raw material obtained from a

increasing

demand

for

higher

paper

in papermaking

renewable resource. It is a natural polymer with high molecular weight that can be
chemically or physically modified to adjust its rheological characteristics and to provide
a specific performance. Furthermore there is a current global trend on consumer
consciousness to protect world environment which discourages the use of synthetic
materials in many applications

and

replacement by natural organic

compounds.

environmental trend is opening

up

opportunities for starch in the

paper

example, starch-based pigments

have

developed from starch acetate

nanoparticles (Figure 2)

to replace the mineral pigment

filler

2007).

has been developed to

Starch-graft-copolymer

promotes

new

their
This
product

industry.

For

recently

(Karvinen

been

et

al.,

produce new materials with properties that combine the advantages of natural and
synthetic polymers (Maurer and Kearney, 1998).
With a continuing progress in modification technology, the development of new
materials from starch with specialty characteristics seems to be unlimited. As a result,
the potential of starch as an important raw material in the paper industry remains
promising both at present and in the future.

References
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starch
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodegradable
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starch_production
4. http://www.tappi.org/Downloads/unsorted/UNTITLED---05AUGSO40pdf.aspx
5. http://www.thaitapiocastarch.org/article17.asp
6. http://www.cargill.com/products/industrial/papermaking/coating/
7. http://www.paperacademy.net/815/paper-chemical-additives/paper-starch-specialty-paper/
8. http://bioplast.com.hk/resin.htm
9. http://www.bioplast.com.hk/

You might also like