Main Raw Materials for Starch Manufacturing

Articles : Main Raw Materials for Starch Manufacturing in India

Starches are polymers of anhydroglucose units. These units are joined by glucosidic linkages. Glucose is essential in the growth of a plant. Surplus glucose in the plants are transformed into starch. This surplus glucose in the plants are transformed into starch. This surplus starch is stored in various parts of the plants, eg. Roots, stems, seeds, etc. Starch consists of two different major components, amylase and amylopectin. The difference between amylase and amylopectin is the branching of glucosidic linkages. Amylose contains 1-4 glucosidic bonds, while amylopectin contains 1-6 glucosidic bonds.

In India there are two principal sources of raw material for the starch industries. They are maize and tapioca. Tapioca is a common starch source for a large number of small industrial units in Tamilnadu. Tapioca roots contain about 24-26% starch. Most of the starch producers in the organized sector in India use maize (corn) as raw material. Maize contains about 70% starch. Maize is having a moisture content of 10-16%, where as tapioca root is having a moisture of about  60- 65%.The economics of production of starch from these two raw materials mainly depends on the moisture content factor.

Whatever may be the starting material, all industries follow the principle of extracting the starch in the highest possible yield. Methods involved are repeated grinding processes, cyclone separations, centrifugal operations, washing through screens, etc. to obtain pure starch.  Further, recovery of other constituents such as fiber, protein, fat, etc. as possible, is made.

Typical compositions of maize and tapioca starches are as follows;

Raw material         Amylopectin       Amylose          Protein                                                                                                                                                            
                                    (%)                    (%)                   (%)

Maize                             73                    27                  0.50
Tapioca                          86                    14                  0.20

Tapioca starch is found to be preferred in some end uses because of its high viscosity compared to maize starch.

Main  by-products of maize based industries are gluten, fiber, husk, corn oil, oil cake, etc. All these products find applications in cattle feed, poultry feed etc. Refined corn oil is used as a cooking medium. Wastes such as corn steep water and other process waste water are utilized for the production of bio-methane gas, which is being used as a fuel for product driers, boilers, power generators etc. Savings from byproducts and the utilization of energy from wastes for the processing give boost to the starch industries.
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