Industrial Crops and Products 41 (2013) 241249

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Industrial Crops and Products

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Green banana (Musa cavendishii) our obtained in spouted bed Effect of drying
on physico-chemical, functional and morphological characteristics of the starch
Carolina Vieira Bezerra a , Edna Regina Amante b, , Daiana Cardoso de Oliveira b , Antonio M.C. Rodrigues a ,
Luiza Helena Meller da Silva a
a
Federal University of Para, Faculty of Food Engineering, Laboratory of Physical Measurements, Rua Augusto Corra w/n, 66075-900 Belm, PA, Brazil
b
Federal University of Santa Catarina, Department of Food Science and Technology, Laboratory of Fruits and Vegetables, Rodovia Admar Gonzaga 1.346, 88034-001 Florianpolis, SC,
Brazil

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study aimed to characterize green banana our obtained by drying in a spouted bed, and to evaluate
Received 15 February 2012 the functional properties (viscosity, swelling power and solubility), as well as the physical, morpholog-
Received in revised form 15 April 2012 ical and hygroscopic behaviour (sorption isotherm). The results show that the rheological behaviour of
Accepted 19 April 2012
our with peel showed the highest values of viscosities but both our showed high tendency to ret-
rogradation. The swelling power and solubility were also similar for all our samples, with low solubility
Keywords:
under cold and high solubility under hot conditions. The starch granules diameter ranged from 70 to
Spouted bed
110 m, with attened and elongated morphology. The sorption isotherms were of type II (unpeeled
Green banana
Flour
banana our) and III (peeled banana our), and the BET model provided the best t to the data, obtain-
Starch ing values for the monolayer adsorption of 5.78 and 4.34, respectively, and desorption of 4.85 and 4.14,
respectively.
2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Banana is the fourth most important crop after rice, wheat and
corn. It contains appreciable amounts of vitamins B and C, as well as
minerals like potassium and calcium. In its green stage it has high
levels of starch, mainly in the form of resistant type 2 (Cano et al.,
1997; Gutierrez et al., 2008).
Starch is the most important source of carbohydrates in food,
representing 8090% of all polysaccharides in the diet, and it can
be classied as digestible (when susceptible to the action of amy-
lase) or resistant (when amylase-resistant), gaining much attention
because of its health benets (Langkild et al., 2002; Fasolin et al.,
2007).
Starch is primarily responsible for the technological properties
that characterize many processed food products, since it con-
tributes various properties of the food texture, and has industrial
applications as a thickener, colloidal stabilizer, gelling agent and
volume enhancer (Vandeputte et al., 2003). All of these applications
are related to the proportions and characteristics of the structures
of amylose and amylopectin and the granule arrangement estab-
lishing the starch rheological behaviour (Eliasson, 1996).
Corresponding author. Tel.: +55 48 32346033; fax: +55 48 37219943.
E-mail address: eamante@cca.ufsc.br (E.R. Amante).
The production of green banana our is one of the ways to pre-
serve bananas being obtained using processing techniques that are
based on drying. Banana our has been used as an ingredient in the
preparation of biscuits, bread and spaghetti of low caloric value
(Aparicio et al., 2007; Juarez et al., 2006; Rodriguez et al., 2008;
Martinez et al., 2009).
The drying conditions used, mainly heat and humidity, can have
a signicant inuence on the technological and functional charac-
teristics of the green banana our obtained (Anderson and Guraya,
2006).
The process of drying in spouted beds has been presented in the
literature as an attractive alternative for the drying of pastes and
suspensions, producing a powder of high quality and low cost. It is
widely used in the dehydration of heat-sensitive materials for the
preservation of bioactive compounds and other structures of inter-
est, offering advantages over other methods of drying, especially
short drying times (Phan, 1983). The inuence of the variables of
the drying process on the starch structure was investigated, con-
sidering that these effects are important not only in terms of the
physical variables involved, but also the different ours obtained
applying specic strategies (Lobo and Silva, 2003).
This study aimed to evaluate the inuence of spouted bed dry-
ing on the structure of starch obtained from green banana our,
with a view to its possible use in the food industry according to the
characteristics presented.

0926-6690/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2012.04.035
242 C.V. Bezerra et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 41 (2013) 241249
Fig. 1. Spouted bed dryer. Blower (01); air heater (02); controller of electrical cur-
rent (03); valve to regulation of the inlet air (04), ow rate indicator (05); differential
pressure indicator (06); suspension (07); peristaltic pump (08); spouted bed (09);
cyclone (10) and psychrometer (11).
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Obtaining of banana our
Green (stage 2 of ripening: all green) (Aurore et al., 2009)
Cavendish (Musa acuminate) banana was purchased from a local
supermarket of Belm, Par, Brazil. The fruits were washed and sep-
arated into two lots: one containing the whole fruit (pulp and peel)
and the other only the pulp. To reduce the enzymatic browning, the
two lots were dipped in 0.5% (w/v) citric acid solution for 10 min
and drained. The lots were crushed in a blender (Poli model LB-
15, Brusque, Santa Catarina, Brazil) until obtaining a homogeneous
paste and subsequently fed into the dryer.
Drying experiments were performed in a Conical Spouted Bed
Dryer with continuous feeding (Fig. 1). The dryer consists of a con-
ical base with an internal angle of 60 and an inlet orice diameter
of 50 mm. A cylindrical column with a diameter of 200 mm and a
height of 300 mm is connected to the conical base of the dryer. The
upper part of the equipment is composed of another cone and a
cyclone. The operation started with the introduction of 1036 g of
inert material into the equipment. Spouting occurred when air was
injected at the base of the bed. When the spout was established
the inlet air was heated to the desired temperature. The work-
ing temperatures in the study were 80 and 90 C, and drying air
ow rate was xed at 50 m3 /h. Polyethylene pellets were used as
the inert material with a diameter of 3.60 mm (0.02 mm), a den-
sity of 905.23 kg/m3 (3.82 kg/m3 ) and a sphericity of 0.850. The
green banana paste to be dried was fed continuously to the drying
chamber, at a constant rate of 3.91 mL/min (0.15 mL/min), into the
annular sliding layer from both sides by a peristaltic pump. The ne
dried particles were separated from the outlet air in a cyclone and a
bag lter. All the drying experiments were carried out in triplicate
for each temperature. The our samples were stored in air-tight
plastic packs at ambient temperature (25 2 C) for further analy-
sis.
2.2. Chemical composition of our
Determination of the chemical composition of all samples was
carried out according to the following methods of the AOAC (1997):
moisture method 925.10, proteins method 920.87, lipids method
922.06, ash method 923.03, total dietary bre method 985.29 and
carbohydrates by the difference.
2.3. Total starch and resistant starch
Starch content was determined though hydrolysis of the sam-
ples dried in an acid medium, using 1.0 g of sample in 50 mL of
1 mol L1 HCl in a microwave oven, in water bath for 10 min at full
power, as adapted by Cereda et al. (2004). The iodine test (IKI)
was used to conrm hydrolysis. After cooling and being added to
1 mol L1 NaOH (50 mL), the samples were diluted with distilled
water to 250 mL. Sugar was determined by LayneEynon titration.
For the determination of resistant starch the AACC (1999)
method no. 76-30A was used (with adaptations). Triplicate samples
of 100 mg were analyzed in Falcon tubes of 15 mL. The samples were
pre-washed twice with 8 mL of 80% ethanol (v/v), centrifuged (958
RCF) for 10 min. Residues were added to 4 mL of trismaleate/0.1 M
NaOH (pH 6) containing 0.02% sodium azide, amyloglucosidase
(4 U/mL, Sigma Aldrich A 7255), -amylase (300 U/mL, Sigma
Aldrich A-3176) and pepsin (500 U/mL, Sigma Aldrich P-7012).
The tubes were shaken, covered and incubated at 37 C for 16 h
under stirring. After incubation, 8 mL of 99% ethanol were added
and the tubes were shaken and centrifuged (958 RCF) for 10 min,
uncovered. Rinsing with ethanol was repeated once more. The
tubes containing the waste and magnetic stirring bar magnets were
partially submerged in an ice bath and 3 mL of 2 M KOH were
added under stirring. After 20 min, 10 mL of NaAc/HAcsodium
acetate bufferglacial acetic acid 1.2 M (pH 3.8) were added and
the stirring was stopped. Next, 0.1 mL of amyloglucosidase (NaAc
3200 U/mL buffer/HAc, pH 4.75) was added to the tubes and after
the addition they were incubated in a water bath at 50 C for
30 min under constant agitation. After incubation, the tube con-
tent was made up to a volume of 20 mL with distilled water and
then centrifuged (958 RCF) for 10 min. The tubes were placed in a
spectrophotometer for reading. The content of resistant starch was
calculated using Eq. (1).
Weight of insoluble residue (g)
Resistant starch (%) = 100 (1)
Sample weight (g)
2.4. Physical characteristics
2.4.1. Colour analysis
The colour analysis was performed on a colorimeter Chroma
meter CR-310 (Minolta, Japan), in triplicate, using the CIE standard
(L*, a*, b*).
2.4.2. Particle size
The particle size of the meal was determined according to AOAC
(1997) with the aid of Brandon 1713 vibrating equipment (Cologne,
Germany) and Bertel sieves with 35, 48, 60, 80, 100 and 200 Mesh
tyler and your respective particle sizes 0.500, 0.354, 0.250, 0.177,
0.149 and 0.074 mm.
2.5. Functional properties
2.5.1. Determination of the paste viscosity
The determination of paste properties was carried out accord-
ing to the methodology described by Freitas and Tavares (2005)
in a Rapid Viscosity Analyzer (RVA), (Newport Scientic Pty Ltd.,
Australia). The sample (3.5 g) with 25 mL of distilled water added
was heated to 50 C, held for 1 min, and then heated to 95 C at a rate
of 6 C/min and held at this temperature for 5 min (maximum vis-
cosity). The samples were then cooled to 50 C at a rate of 6 C/min
(cooling viscosity).
 C.V. Bezerra et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 41 (2013) 241249 243

2.5.2. Swelling power and solubility Table 1

Models used to prediction of the adsorption and desorption isotherms.
The swelling power and solubility were determined accord-
ing to the method described by Leach (1959). Approximately 1 g Model Equation
of the sample (Ws) and 40 mL of distilled water were placed in (Xm Caw )(1(n+1)an n+1 )
+naw
BET a
Xeq = w
pre-weighed centrifuge tubes. The tubes were left at a constant (1aw )(1+(C1)aw Can+1
  w
)

temperature of 25, 50, 70 and 90 C for 30 min. The tubes were then X 1(n+1)an n+1
+naw
Complete BETa Xm
= w
n+1
centrifuged at 665 g for 20 min. The supernatant was separated, its 1(1C)aw Caw

aw (CBet 1)
volume measured (V) and 10 m was placed in a previously weighed Linearized BETa aw
(1aw )x
= 1
Xm CBet
+ Xm CBet
Petri dish. The sample on the plate was dried in an oven at 65 C for GAB b
x=
Xm CGAB KGab aw
(1KGAB aw )(1KGAB aw +CGAB KGAB aw )
12 h and the residue was calculated by weight difference (R). The
centrifuge tubes were weighed, and calculated weight difference m = moisture content; mo = monolayer moisture content; aw = water activity; a, b, c,
k = constants.
of the sample in the tube after centrifugation (Wc). The swelling a
Park and Nogueira (1992).
power (SP) and solubility index (SI) were calculated according to b
Maroulis et al. (1988).
Eqs. (2) and (3), respectively.

Wc Table 2
SP (g/g) = (2) Chemical composition of green banana our peeled and unpeeled at 80 C produced
Ws
in a spouted bed dryer.
 R 
SI (%) = 100 V 100 (3) Components (g/100 g) Green banana our
Ws
Peeled Unpeeled

Protein 4.85 0.16a 4.68 0.25a

2.6. Morphological characteristics Lipid 0.87 0.05a 0.51 0.04b
Ash 2.95 0.80a 2.52 0.32b
2.6.1. Scanning electron microscopy Carbohydrate 91.33 0.30a 92.32 0.23b
The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was performed Total starch 68.02 0.4a 73,07 0.11b
Resistant starch 33.86 0.56a 40.14 0.34b
with a scanning electron microscope ZEISS (model DSM 940 A,
Total bre 22.91 0.11a 13.89 0.10b
Oberkochen, Germany), using an amperage of 80 mA and voltage of
Mean values SD of triplicate determinations. Mean values in the same line followed
5 kV. Samples were xed with double-sided tape onto aluminium
by different letters are signicantly different (p 0.05).
cylinders and coated with a layer of gold plating BAL-TEC SCD 050.

2.6.2. Optical microscopy good ts to isotherms and were used as a reference in the adjust-
For light microscopy, samples were mixed with epoxy resin ment analysis.
GY-260 and HY 837. The slides were viewed under an optical micro-
100  |Yexp Ypre |
n
scope with polarized light Olympus SZH10 (Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo,
Japan) coupled to an Olympus camera. P= (5)
n Yexp
i=1

2.7. Moisture sorption isotherms
Isotherms of the moisture sorption and desorption at 25 C were
constructed. To obtain the sorption data, 1-g samples of the prod-
ucts were dried in a desiccator with silica gel, under vacuum. After
24 h, the samples were placed in a desiccator with water in the base.
To obtain the desorption data, samples of the products, after the
sorption process, were submitted to hydration in a desiccator con-
taining water in the base, at 25 C for 24 h. The samples were then
transferred to a desiccator containing silica gel. In both cases the
system was maintained at ambient temperature (25 1 C). Sam-
ples were collected in duplicate and equilibrium moisture content
(Xeq ) was determined by weight difference (Eq. (4)).
 
weighttotal
Xeq = 100
weightdry
The water activity was determined in a hygrometer (AQUALAB
3TEDecagon, Pullman, WA). BET, complete BET, linearized BET
and GAB (Table 1) were tested in the prediction of adsorption and
desorption isotherms. Regression analysis was performed using
the software Statistica for Windows 7.0 (StatSoft Inc., Tulsa, OK,
USA), using the estimation method of LevenbergMarquardt and
convergence criteria of 106 . The parameters used to evaluate
the adjustments were the coefcient of determination (r2 ), the
mean relative deviation modulus (P) (Eq. (5)), and the correlation
between the dependent variable (Y, water activity or moisture con-
tent) and experimental (Yexp ) and predicted values (Ypre ). P values
less than 10% were considered by Peng et al. (2007) as indicators of
where Yexp and Ypre are the experimental and predict dependent
variables, respectively, and n is the number of observations.
2.8. Statistical analysis
Data were statistically analyzed by ANOVA, turkey test and lin-
ear regression using the software Statistic for Windows 7.0 (StatSoft
Inc., Tulsa, OK, USA).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Chemical composition
The chemical compositions of the green banana our samples
(4)
are shown in Table 2. It was observed that banana our peeled
showed signicant differences in terms of the lipid, ash and bre
fractions compared with the unpeeled banana our. This behaviour
was also reported by Medeiros et al. (2005), working with a Pacovan
variety in the green stage. The utilization of banana unpeeled as part
of the meal can be used as a strategy to add value, mainly in relation
to the bre, for which the differences were more signicant.
Fruit unpeeled generally has a high content of minerals, and the
cell walls have high bre content, mainly as insoluble cellulose and
hemicellulose, which explains the higher levels of this component
when compared with the pulp (Gondim et al., 2005).
The levels of proteins and lipids in the unpeel banana sample
are close to those found by Borges et al. (2009), which were 4.73
and 0.70 g/100 (dry weight basis DWB), respectively.
244 C.V. Bezerra et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 41 (2013) 241249

Table 3 Table 5
Resistant starch content (%) in the pulp and the green banana our unpeeled and Particle size distribution of green banana our peeled and unpeeled.
peeled.
Flours
Drying conditions T ( C) Unpeeled
mm 0.500 0.354 0.250 0.177 0.149 0.074
Pulp Flour Mesh 35 48 60 80 100 200

80 35.625 0.17a 35.065 0.15a Peeled (%) 18.99 11 7.75 14.74 4.57 7.4
90 32.96 1.02a 32.67 0.88a Unpeeled (%) 1.33 6.05 7.06 15.91 2.42 9.9

Drying conditions T ( C) Peeled

Table 6
Pulp Flour Viscosity behaviour of green banana our peeled and unpeeled.
80 42.38 0.51a 42.04 0.17a
Flour Minimum Maximum Cooling
90 37.95 1.83a 38.24 0.09a
viscosity viscosity viscosity
Mean values SD of triplicate determinations. Mean values in the same line followed (95 C) (95 C) (50 C)
by same letters are not signicantly different (p 0.05).
Peeled 3447 17.66a 3915 8.0a 5020 36.0a
Unpeeled 3184 13.0b 3361 29.3b 4845 32.0a

Mean values SD of duplicate determinations. Mean values in the same column

followed by different letters are signicantly different (p 0.05).

3.2. Physical characteristics

In this study, a high carbohydrate content in the samples, with
over 70% of starch, more than half in the form of resistant starch,
with values similar to those found by Martinez et al. (2009) (42%).
The green banana our can be considered as a source of resis-
tant starch, and can be used as a functional food with the purpose
of preventing or reducing cholesterol, constipation, diverticulitis
and even colon cancer. The resistant starch intake in Europe and
Latin America is low (36 g/day) compared to consumption in other
regions such as Asia (819 g/day). However, there is a huge poten-
tial for increased intake of this nutrient from foods and products
with a high content of resistant starch, and green banana our
could full this role (Menezes et al., 2004). Much work is currently
underway to develop products using green banana our in order
to increase the indigestible fraction, represented by the resistant
starches and bbers, particularly when the bananas are used with
the peel (Aparicio et al., 2007; Juarez et al., 2006; Rodriguez et al.,
2008; Martinez et al., 2009).
Since the content of resistant starch can be modied by some
types of processing, this paper assessed whether the drying process
used had an inuence on this component. The results are shown in
Table 3.
Although banana pulp has a high humidity and was subjected to
drying temperatures above the gelatinization temperature, condi-
tions favourable for the formation of resistant starch, no signicant
differences were observed between the values of resistant starch
in the pulp and the our. This behaviour can be explained by
the characteristics of the spouted bed drying, and the short raw
material drying temperature, which did not allow gelatinization
to occur. Different results were reported by Tribess et al. (2009)
who observed the formation of resistant starch in ours of green
banana our samples obtained under different drying conditions in
a xed bed. This indicates the importance of the drying time in the
spouted bed drier. The increased content of resistant starch may be
of interest to functional strategies, since it increases the indigestible
portion.
3.2.1. Colour
The values for the colour parameters of the our samples
obtained from unpeeled and peeled banana are presented in
Table 4. The coordinate L* refers to lightness, the a* coordinate
refers to green ()/red (+) chromaticity and the coordinate b* to
blue ()/yellow (+) chromaticity. L* values closer to 100 represent
greater brightness and closer to 0 represent less brightness.
Darker our was obtained in the drying using higher temper-
atures, which was observed in both ours. This same behaviour
was observed by Lima et al. (1995), where a temperature increase
darkened the samples of West Indian cherry powder and hog plum
obtained. In unpeeled banana our this effect was stronger, which
can be attributed to the degradation of chlorophyll (Yang et al.,
2009).
Chlorophyll is sensitive to oxygen, heat and pH, and its degra-
dation products are pheophytin and pheophorbide, which have a
characteristic greenbrown colour (Yang et al., 2009). All of the
banana our samples obtained in this study had a lighter colour
compared with the white our, whole meal our and banana unpeel
our (xed bed at 55 C for 48 h) obtained by Fernandes et al. (2008)
The colour attribute has an impact on the evaluation and acquisition
of food for both the consumer and the food industries. The whiter
of the our improves the acceptance and interest, as its incorpo-
ration as an ingredient in the preparation of products will cause
little change in the nal colour (Castilho et al., 2010). For the a* and
b* coordinates, in general, there is a predominance of the yellow
component (b*) and the green component (a*), yielding our with
a tendency toward a darker or lighter yellow colour.
3.2.2. Particle size
The grain size values are given in Table 5. It can be observed for
both our samples that the particle size was not uniform, as evi-
denced by the considerable mass retention in the various screens.
This behaviour can be attributed to the growing accumulation of

Table 4
Values of instrumental colour of green banana our unpeeled and peeled.

Banana our Drying conditions

80 C 90 C

L* a* b* L* a* b*

Unpeeled 97.2 0.37a 0.53 0.09a +3.89 0.04a 96.1 0.04a 0.43 0.08b +3.51 0.04c
Peeled 104.3 0.04b 0.48 0.01b +1.87 0.09b 98.9 0.21c 0.50 0.05a +0.19 0.07a

Mean values SD of triplicate determinations. Mean values in the same column followed by different letters are signicantly different (p 0.05).
 C.V. Bezerra et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 41 (2013) 241249 245

18 18
Peel
16 16
Unpeel
14 14

12 12

Solubility (%)
Solubility (%)

10 10

8 8

6 6

4 4

2 2

0 0
0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Temperature (C) Temperature (C)

T= 80 oC and H= 12 cm (A) T= 90 oC and H= 12 cm

20
20
18
18
16
16
14
Swelling Power (g/g)

Swelling Power (g/g)

14
12
12
10
10
8 8
6 6
4 4
2 2

0 0
0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Temperature (C) Temperature (C)

T= 80 oC and H= 12 cm (B) T= 90 oC and H= 12 cm

Fig. 2. Solubility curves (A) and swelling power (B) of green banana our peeled and unpeeled under different temperatures.

raw material on the surface of the inert material (grain), generating 0.177 mm screens respectively). In the case of the former,
particles with different sizes during the drying. this was probably the retention of brous material from
The highest percentage of mass retained for the our the peel and the latter the our without this component.
with peel was on the 35 and 80 mesh (0.500 mm and Regarding the our without peel, the highest percentage of

Table 7
Swelling power and solubility of our banana peeled and unpeeled at different temperatures.

Unpeeled Swelling power (g/g) Solubility (g/g)

Temperature of process 80 C 90 C 80 C 90 C
27 C 2.89 0.04a 2.72 0.03a,d 1.6 0.2a 1.90 0.2a
50 C 3.45 0.2a,d 2.94 0.1d 1.93 0.1a 2.62 0.1a,d
70 C 6.31 0.4b 6.08 0.2b 5.36 0.4b 6.30 0.1b
90 C 15.18 0.4c 19.6 0.5e 14.99 0.9c 16.53 0.2e

Peeled Swelling power (g/g) Solubility (g/g)

Temperature of process 80 C 90 C 80 C 90 C
27 C 2.99 0.04a 2.88 0.04a 1.22 0.08a 1.34 0.2a
50 C 2.77 0.07a 3.28 0.04a,d 2.35 0.06a 2.59 0.05a,d
70 C 5.74 0.2b 6.30 0.5b 4.48 0.1b 6.28 0.2b,e
90 C 14.02 0.18c 17.45 0.3e 14.66 0.3c 16.31 0.07c,f

Mean values SD of triplicate determinations. Mean values in the same column followed by different letters are signicantly different (p 0.05).
246 C.V. Bezerra et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 41 (2013) 241249

40 Table 8
Data of sorption isotherm of green banana our peeled and unpeeled at 25 C.
A
35 Sorption Desorption

Peeled Unpeeled Peeled Unpeeled

30
Moisture g H 2 0/100 g dbw

Aw Xeq Aw Xeq Aw Xeq Aw Xeq

25 0.10 1.66 0.09 1.67 0.905 29.71 0.92 35.13

0.16 3.17 0.15 3.21 0.87 26.58 0.91 32.80
0.23 4.67 0.16 2.64 0.85 22.57 0.89 31.38
20 0.29 8.61 0.17 3.40 0.75 16.99 0.88 28.15
0.47 10.05 0.20 3.79 0.69 14.15 0.87 26.62
15 0.58 10.67 0.22 4.16 0.60 12.40 0.85 24.60
0.61 14.42 0.28 4.64 0.48 9.69 0.82 20.17
0.72 13.52 0.37 4.12 0.44 8.66 0.79 19.62
10 0.70 20.46 0.41 4.21 0.30 4.67 0.73 16.16
0.80 19.97 0.49 6.82 0.23 3.79 0.67 13.78
0.83 21.79 0.49 7.04 0.19 3.18 0.58 11.38
5
0.85 30.56 0.53 7.92 0.08 2.23 0.54 9.63
0.90 25.79 0.65 14.17 0.06 0.93 0.45 5.60
0 0.83 21.69 0.18 3.88
0,0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5 0,6 0,7 0,8 0,9 1,0 0.85 27.06
Aw 0.92 35.1

50 Aw = water activity; Xeq = moisture of equilibrium.

B
with green banana our produced from Nanico species, obtained
40 maximum viscosity and cooling viscosity of 3612 cP and 4161 cP,
respectively.
Moisture g/100 g dbw

Oliveira et al. (2006), working with potato our observed a max-

30 imum viscosity of 2800 cP and viscosity cooling of 6400 cP. Assis
et al. (2009), working with wheat our, reported a maximum vis-
cosity of 2196 cP and viscosity cooling of 2782 cP.
20
3.3.2. Swelling power and solubility
The values obtained for the swelling power and solubility of the
starches are shown in Table 7 and Fig. 2. The our samples obtained
10
from unpeeled and peeled banana exhibited low solubility at room
temperature which can signicantly limit its use in instant foods.
The swelling power and solubility are good parameters through
0 which to evaluate the integrity of the starch granule. The solubility
0,0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5 0,6 0,7 0,8 0,9 1,0
is related to the amount of soluble solids in the dry sample, enabling
Aw the application of treatments which depend on gelatinization, dex-
Fig. 3. Sorption isotherms of the green banana our (unpeeled and peeled), tting
trinization and the consequent solubilization of starch. The swelling
of the complete BET model. Sorption (squares); desorption (circles). power is related to the cold paste viscosity, because only the dam-
aged and modied starch granules absorb water and swell at room
temperature (Lustosa et al., 2009).
mass retained was observed for the 80 mesh (0.177 mm Cruz and Dash (1984) working with chayote starches reported
screen). an absorption rate of 60% when these starches were heated to
The granulometry of the green banana our obtained in this 100 C, and Ciacco and Cruz (1982) observed absorption rates of 58%
study was lower compared with the particle size of green banana and 24% when working with cassava and maize, respectively, at the
our obtained in a xed bed by Borges et al. (2009), where the same temperature. The banana starches, compared with those of
material was retained on the 30 mesh (0.595 mm screen). cassava, corn and chayote, swell more slowly, which may indicate
The spouted bed drying procedure used to produce the powder that a strong micellar arrangement needs to be broken.
directly, which eliminates the need for the grinding of the dry mate- The swelling power and solubility are directly related to increas-
rial, generates smaller particle sizes when compared with drying ing temperature. The starch of green banana our obtained in
in a xed bed, which is important since it reduces the processing this study shows low values of solubility and swelling power at
time. temperatures below 70 C. However, the application of tempera-
tures above 70 C signicantly increases these properties, since the
3.3. Functional properties hydrogen bonds are broken, the water molecules bind to hydroxyl

3.3.1. Paste viscosity Table 9

Viscosity is one of the most important properties of starch prod- Parameters of complete BET model to the green banana our peeled and unpeeled.
ucts. Table 6 present the data of viscosity behaviour during heating
Isotherm Parameters
which can be used to assess the structural modications of the
starch molecules and other compounds and also the tendency for m0 c n R2 P (%)
retrogradation to occur during cooling (Assis et al., 2009). Peeled Sorption 5.78 6.58 10.63 0.94 2.14
In general, when compared with other starch sources, the green Desorption 4.85 6.81 14.11 0.99 1.32
banana our obtained in this study showed high viscosity and a high Unpeeled Sorption 4.34 5.87 20.97 0.99 1.41
Desorption 4.14 23.98 21.70 0.99 1.18
tendency toward retrogradation. Bertolini et al. (2010) working
 C.V. Bezerra et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 41 (2013) 241249
Fig. 4. Scanning electron micrographs of starch granules of green banana our (magnication 2000). A 80 C (unpeeled), B 90 C (unpeeled), C 80 C (peeled) and D
90 C (peeled).
groups released and the granule expands and amylose is exuded
(Zavareze et al., 2009). Similar behaviour was observed by Gutierrez
et al. (2008).
The increase in solubility with gelatinization is the basis for mak-
ing pre-cooked starchy foods. Some pre-gelatinized our samples
are partly soluble in cold water because of their high solubility.
Considering this solubility characteristic the use of banana our
obtained by drying in a spouted bed is not recommended for
these types of foods, since they have low solubility under cold
conditions.
3.4. Sorption isotherm for green banana our
Experimental data for the moisture equilibrium (Xeq ) and water
activity (Aw ) at 25 C for the green banana our with and without
peel are presented in Table 8. According to the sorption data, it was
observed that green banana our with and without peel presented
water activity levels higher than 0.6, when the moisture content
was higher than 11 and 7 gH2 O/100, respectively. Values for water
activity lower than 0.6 guarantee the microbiologic stability of the
food (Jay et al., 2005).
Sorption and desorption curves obtained from the experimental
data tting to the complete BET model are presented in Fig. 3. An
increase in the equilibrium moisture was observed with increasing
water activity, which is shown by an exponential curve, repre-
sented behaviour typical of a type III isotherm for the green banana
our peeled and type II isotherm for unpeeled banana our, accord-
ing to the IUPAC (1985) and Salwin (1959) classication, and which
is characteristic of foods rich in carbohydrate.
The parameters used to evaluate the adjustments were the coef-
cient of determination (r2 ), the mean relative deviation modulus
(P). P values less than 10% were considered by Peng et al. (2007) as
indicators of good ts to isotherms and were used as a reference in
the adjustment analysis.
247
The complete BET model was that which presented the best t
to the equilibrium data in the modelling of the sorption isotherm
for the green banana our with and without peel at 25 C (Table 9).
The monolayer determines the moisture content for safe stor-
age, where the material presents maximal stability, because it
represents the moisture limit at which undesirable reactions begin,
besides promoting an increase in the energy consumption for the
removal of the residual water in the food (Silva et al., 2008).
3.5. Morphological features
3.5.1. Scanning electron microscopy of green banana our starch
granules
The microscope is an important tool in studies on the charac-
teristics of starch granules, providing information on the origin of
the granules, size characteristics, and information on the surface
morphology. It can be used to analyze, morphologically, whether
granules are inuenced by a process (Orea et al., 2002).
In scanning electron microscopy (SEM), as in optical microscopy
(polarized light), we can obtain information regarding the shape
and size of the granules collect data concerning the internal orga-
nization of the granules by the Maltese cross (Aggarwal and
Dollimore, 1997).
The SEM images of the starch granules of the our samples
obtained are shown in Fig. 4.
The starch granules presented different shapes and sizes. The
large granules tended to be attened and elongated, while the small
granules were rounded. These ndings are consistent with those
reported by Izidoro et al. (2007). The characterization of Nanico
banana indicated that the starch granule diameter ranged from 70
to 110 m.
According to Cereda (2002) the size of cassava starch granules
varies from 4 to 35 m and Saha and Jackson (1996) reported the
diameter of corn starch granules in the range 323 m.
248 C.V. Bezerra et al. / Industrial Crops and Products 41 (2013) 241249
Fig. 5. Images of polarized light microscopy of starch granules of green banana our A drying at 80 C (peeled), B drying at 90 C (peeled), C drying at 80 C (unpeeled),
D drying at 90 C (unpeeled).
The size and shape of starch granules are among the impor-
tant factors in determining the potential use of starch, for example,
small granules (210 m) can be used as fat substitutes, and large
granules can be applied in biodegradable plastic lms (Leonel,
2007).
3.5.2. Optical microscopy
The images obtained in the optical microscopy are shown in
Fig. 5. Relating the image data obtained by light microscopy with
the drying process can provide valuable information with regard
to the inuence of the process on the starch granule. Intact gran-
ules, which did not break during the gelatinization process, retain
their birefringence (Maltese cross). Therefore, we can afrm that
the starch of the our obtained in all drying experiments did not
undergo internal breakdown, and did not undergo gelatinization
which can be conrmed by the birefringence.
4. Conclusions
The our obtained is an excellent source of starch, especially
resistant starch, and can be used as a functional food, contribut-
ing to the development of products to increase the non-digestible
fraction.
Green banana our generally has a high viscosity and a high ten-
dency toward retrogradation, which are features required of these
products for their use as thickeners. The our samples had low sol-
ubility under cold and high solubility under hot conditions. The
content of resistant starch did not change signicantly, implying
that the variables did not inuence the drying of these values. The
starch present in the sample after drying did not undergo gela-
tinization. The maintenance of this characteristic limits the use of
starch products with instant features but opens the spectrum for
use when the goal is to increase the viscosity, as bases for sauces,
puddings and ans.
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to FAPESPA (Process 058/2008),
CNPq (Process 620209/20089) and CAPES (PROCAD-NF Process
2256/2008).
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