Chemie Ingenieur Technik, Vol.83, No.3, 262-272, 2011
Vacuum Microwave Treatment of Potato Starch and the Resultant Modification of Properties
The study focuses on the vacuum microwave treatment of low-moisture potato starch. Typical temperature and drying profiles are presented and explained with the help of other process parameters such as sample weight, pressure, incident and absorbed microwave power. Subsequently water absorption capacity of vacuum microwave treated and conduction heated samples was investigated at 55 degrees C. During vacuum microwave treatment, 50 g samples were treated with incident powers of 460, 500 and 750W at 3800 Pa for durations between 30 and 300 s. Water absorption capacity increased exponentially with the net absorbed energy but could not be functionally correlated to end temperature and incident power. During conduction heating, starch samples were treated at temperature values of 120, 130, 140, 150 and 160 degrees C, till constant weight. The water absorption capacity was observed to increase with increase in treatment temperature.