CASSAVA STARCH: PRODUCTION, PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES, AND

HYDROLYSATION- A REVIEW.

Abstract

Cassava (Manihot esculenta crantz) is a perennial tuber plant widely grown in many
tropical countries including Nigeria as one of the most important commercial crops.
Cassava is an important high energy traditional food crop yielding 250 x 103 Cal. ha-1

This paper gives an overview of extraction and physicochemical properties of cassava

starch which include starch granule size and microscopic appearance, structure and
organisation of starch, swelling and gelatinization, clarity, solubility, viscosity,
retrogradation. The focus is on the effects of these properties on enzymatic hydrolysis.

Key words: Cassava, starch, starch granule, amylose, amylopectin.

1. INTRODUCTION 2002, rising to 230 million tonnes in 2008

Cassava (Manihot esculenta crantz) is a
perennial tuber plant widely grown in
many tropical countries including Nigeria
as one of the most important commercial
crops. Cassava is an important high
energy traditional food crop yielding 250
x 103 Cal. ha-1 day-1 against 176 x 103 and
110 x 103 Cal. ha-1 day-1 produced by rice
and wheat respectively, serving either as
subsidiary or subsistence food in different
parts of the tropical belt. Cereals are the
major source of commercial starches in
most developed countries. Even though
the industrial application of cassava is
making rapid advances and is widely used
as a replacement for corn starch in the
United States (Bahnassey and Breene,
1994). Nevertheless, cassava and to a
small extent, sweet potato (Ipomoea
batatas Lam.) are used for starch
extraction in countries such as India,
Brazil, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines
and China.
World production of cassava root was
estimated to be 184 million tonnes in
1
(FAO, 2008). The majority of production
in 2002 was in Africa where 99.1 million
tonnes were grown. 51.5 million tonnes
were grown in Asia and 33.2 million
tonnes in Latin America and the
Caribbean. Nigeria is the world's largest
producer of cassava. However, based on
the statistics from the FAO of the United
Nations, Thailand is the largest exporting
country of dried cassava with a total of
77% of world export in 2005. The second
largest exporting country is Vietnam, with
13.6%, followed by Indonesia (5.8 %) and
Costa Rica (2.1 %).
There is a growing interest in ecologically
sustainable biofuels such as ethanol
(known as bioethanol) from starchy
materials. In the industrialized countries
of the world, increasing efforts are being
made to replace fossil fuel with bioethanol
which is more environmental friendly.
The industrial processes mainly use grain,
tuber and root starches. Cassava tubers
represent an attractive feedstock for
bioethanol production in some regions. In
many countries, significant research has
begun to evaluate the use of cassava as an
ethanol biofuel feedstock. Under the
Development Plan for Renewable Energy
in the 11th Five-Year Plan in China, the
target is to increase the application of
ethanol fuel by non-grain feedstock to 2
million tonnes, and that of bio-diesel to
200 thousand tonnes by 2010. This will be
equivalent to a substitute of 10 million
tonnes of petroleum. As a result, cassava
chips have gradually become a major
source for ethanol production (Chiwona-
Karltun, 2009). On December 22, 2007,
the largest cassava ethanol fuel
production facility was completed in
Beihai with annual output of two hundred
thousand tons, which would need an
average of one and half million tons of
cassava (Opie et al., 2008). In November
2008, China-based Hainan Yedao Group
reportedly invested $51.5m (£31.8m) in a
new biofuel facility that is expected to
produce 33 million gallons a year of bio-
2. Technologies of cassava production
Unlike other tuber starches, extraction of
starch from cassava is simple and the
isolated starch is pure white in colour and
relatively free from other chemical
impurities (Moorthy, 2002). The
technology development for cassava
starch processing can be divided into
three phases. The first phase is the
production of cassava flour. It is
processed from fresh roots using simple
techniques like sedimentation. The wet
flour is dried by baking on a hot surface.
The second phase is the production of
cassava starch using more sophisticated
techniques based on centrifugal force for
starch separation and dewatering. The
resulting moist starch is dried in a flash
drier.
2.1 Raw Material Preparation
2
ethanol from cassava plants (IMCBE,
2009).
Nigeria has great potential to earness her
abundantly produced cassava (largest
producer in the world) to processed food
and bioethanol production. For this to be
realisable, full understanding of extraction
and physicochemical properties of cassava
starch is imperative. In this context,
proper analysis of the clear differences in
hydrolytic behaviour of starch from plant
source to plant source coupled with
investigations of the physicochemical
properties from each specific source
should lead to better understandings of
what is possible and what needs to be
done. Thus, this review presents the
extraction and physicochemical properties
of cassava starch as they affect
hydrolysation with amylolytic enzymes
towards production of simple sugars
which are feed stocks in production of
bioethanol.
The roots are put into a hopper, and
transferred to a conveying belt where the
woody ends of the roots are cut off. The
roots are then passed to a sieve to
separate loose peels, sand and any
adhering dirt. After the roots are washed
in a root washer, washing water from a
washer containing some loose peels are
passed to a rotary screen, a perforated
cylindrical tank with a spiral part driving
the retained loose peel to an outlet. Water
passing through the screen then enters
the wastewater treatment system. The
quality of cassava roots has a significant
effect on the quality of the final product.
As soon as the roots are harvested, they
must be immediately transported to a
factory. The detailed information about
the roots such as varieties, the age of
harvested roots, starch content, and
planting location needs to be recorded. It
has been clearly shown that these factors
greatly affect the quality of the starch
product.
2.2 Rasping of Cassava Roots
Washed roots are transported via
conveyor belt to a root chopper. Inside
this machine, the cassava roots are
chopped into smaller pieces with large
cutting blades. The chopped roots are
then taken to a rasper. During rasping,
water is used to facilitate the process. The
resulting suspension (rasped fresh pulp)
consists of starch, water, fibre, and other
impurities. In general, a small rasper
drum, with a high number of blades per
surface area, is used with rather low
speed to avoid such a fine pulp that may
create difficulty in starch extraction
which could lead to low production
efficiency
2.3 Starch Extraction
The extraction of starch starts by
pumping the rasped fresh pulp into a
decanter, a cylinder with conical ends
separates the water containing protein
and fat from the extracted using
centrifugal force (Table 1). The
decanter rotates at a speed of 3,000
rpm. The extractor, used to separate
starch slurry from the fibre and pulp is
a cone-shaped perforated stainless
steel basket constantly spinning at
600-800 rpm. The starch granules are
small enough to pass through the
pores of the perforated basket into an
outer tank, larger pulp particles,
retained inside the basket, and are
discharged at the upper outlet. Water
is constantly applied to the machine to
facilitate starch extraction. The settling
of starch granules is often hindered by
presence of various components like
mucilage and latex, leading not only to
loss of starch, but also lowering of the
3
quality of extracted starch. The long
residence time can also promote
microbial growth bringing about
breakdown of starch and resultant loss
of starch quality. Besides, the presence
of these microorganisms affects the
colour of the starch limiting its use in
food and textile applications.
Table 1: Biochemical contents of
cassava starches.
Moisture [%] 14.8a, 10-13b
Fibre/ash [%] 0.02-0.49c, 0.33d,
0.22 , 0.32 , 0.1-0.8 , 0.01-0.029f
e a b
Lipid [%] 0.1-1.54g, c, d, h,
0.96e, 0.1-0.4b, 0.07-0.73f
Phosphorus [%] 0.007-0.012c ,
0.0075e
aRasper (1967), bKay (1987), cRickard et
al. (1991), dLeelavathi et al. (1987), eSoni
et al. (1985), fAsaoka et al. (1991),
gMoorthy et al. (1996), hEliasson and
Gudmundsson (1996).
An aqueous solution of sulfur dioxide
is used in the fine extractor to prevent
the formation of slimy film that could
clog the filter cloth. This also prevents
loss of starch by microorganisms and
helps in bleaching of the starch.
Different amounts of sulfur dioxide
used result in different qualities of
starch. However, Work carried out at
the Central Tuber Crops Research
Institute, Trivandrum, India on use of
various chemicals in improving the
yield of starch from various tubers
(Rani, 1998) showed that ammoniacal
solutions gave the best results.
Aqueous ammonia (0.03 M), when
used for starch extraction, not only
improved the yield, but also the
functional characteristics such as paste
viscosity and swelling. Ammonia acts
by complexing with the mucilagenous
material releasing the starch granules
and enabling faster settling of starch in
less viscous slurry. Kallabinski and
Balagopalan (1994) developed an
enzymatic method for enhancing the
recovery (26 % increase) of starch
from cassava tubers using pectinase
and cellulase enzymes. These enzymes
alter the integrity of the pectin-
cellulosic matrix of cell membranes
and thereby facilitate the release of the
starch granules. Mathew et al., (1995)
used a mixed culture inoculum to
enhance the yield of starch from
cassava tubers. Although the recovery
of starch increased, the starch was
invariably contaminated with fibrous
material.
The starch slurry from fine extractors
is purified and concentrated in a
separator. Generally, a 2-phase nozzle
type separation machine is used. This
method utilizes centrifugal force
created by rotating the machine at
about 3,000 rpm. The liquid that
enters the machine is separated into
two phases: concentrated starch slurry
and clear water with impurities
(mostly used to wash the roots). The
final starch slurry obtained is held at
18-20 oBe as it enters the dewatering
process.
To improve the separation process, a
3-phase nozzle type separation
machine has been developed. This uses
the same principles as the 2-phase
machine, but the liquid is separated
into three phases: the heavy phase, the
medium phase, and the light phase.
4
The medium phase liquid contains
small starch granules and fine pulp. It
can be reused in the process but fine
pulp has to be removed first. The light-
phase liquid has less impurities and
can be reused. The 3-phase machine
uses a less water and reduces the
number of steps in separating the
starch. In the use of a hydrocyclone to
facilitate the separation of impurities
and chemicals from starch slurry and
the installation of a densitometer to
measure the concentration of starch
slurry are also necessary to obtain
starch slurry and starch product with
consistent quality. The starch slurry
from the separators is pumped to a
dewatering centrifuge. With filter cloth
placed inside it, rotates at about 1,000
rpm to remove water from the starch
slurry.
2.4 Drying Process
Cassava starch is dried using a
pneumatic conveying dryer. A burner
is generally used to generate heat.
There are two types of burners in use
today: hot air burners and thermo-oil
boilers. Air, heated to 170 to 200 0C, is
used to dry the starch cake in a flash
dryer. The starch is transferred to a
drying cyclone and then a cooling
cyclone. The dried starch is then sifted
to assure uniform particles and
packaged.
The most important characteristics of
cassava starch are odorless, paste clarity
and stickiness. These remarkable
characteristics of cassava starch are
enabling to be conveniently and readily
with other flavoring and coloring agents.
3.0 Starch granule size and
microscopic appearance
Starch granules in storage tissues can vary
in shape, size and composition. The shape
and size of the granules depends on the
source, which allows one to identify the
botanical source of the starch by
microscopic examination (Preiss, 2004).
In general, granule size may vary from
less than 1 µm to more than 100 µm.
Generally, granule size is expressed as the
average spherical equivalent diameter.
No precise categorization of granule size
was found in the literature (Lindebooma
et al., 2004). For this reason, the following
classes are defined: large ( 25 µm),
Fig. 1: Cassava starch granule with magnification 1500x (Whistler et al., 1984)
The granule size is reported to affect some
functional properties of cassava such as
swelling, solubility and digestibility. The
study of acid and enzymatic hydrolysis of
granular starches can provide information
about the structure of these granules
(Franco et al. 1988). The effect of starch
granule size on enzymatic susceptibility
has been studied by various authors
(Franco and Ciacco, 1992), and many of
them have observed that the large size of
5
medium (10–25 µm), small (5–10 µm)
and very small (<5 µm) granules. Cassava
starch granule is large within the range of
4-35 µm.
Cassava starch granules are mostly round
with a flat surface on one side containing
a conical pit, which extends to a well-
defined eccentric hilum (Moorthy, 1999).
The native surface of most granules
appears smooth without observable
pores as shown below.
cassava starch granule are responsible for
less susceptibility of cassava starch to α-
amylase hydrolyzation.
It has been reported that enzymatic
hydrolysis of granular cassava starch at
temperatures below the starch
gelatinization temperature results in a
pitted and porous granule surface, which
is readily discernible by microscopic
examination (MacGregor and Balance,
1980). Franco and Ciacco (1992), also
reported that enzymatic attack on the
cassava granules are characterized by
considerable surface corrosion, mainly at
the radial axis.
4.1 Structure and organisation of
starch
Starch is unique among carbohydrates
since it naturally occurs as tiny granules.
The starch granule organization is very
complicated and depends strongly on the
botanical origin. The amylose and
amylopectin fractions are considered to be
oriented in the starch granule in radical
fashion (Wurzburg, 1986). Hydrogen
bonds between adjacent linear segments
of the amylopectin or amylose molecules
segments may form micellar crystallites
which are responsible for the granule
integrity and for imparting birefringent
properties which are manifested by
polarization crosses. These polarization
crosses are characteristic for intact starch
granules (Wurzburg, 1986). In a cluster of
amylopectin, two neighbouring chains
intertwine into a double helix. The linear
6
arrays of the double helices then form
crystallites. The alternating zones of
different densities of amylopectin account
for the crystalline and amorphous phases
of starch. Amylose occurs predominantly
in the amorphous phase (Seib, 1997). It is
now widely accepted that the amylopectin
is predominantly responsible for granule
crystallinity.
A starch granule observed under
polarized light shows a maltese cross,
indicating through this birefringence
phenomenon, a semi crystalline structure.
Looking at acid hydrolysis treated starch
(acid will cut the glucose bonds allowing
water to penetrate the granule more
easily) under light microscope it is
possible to see concentric growth rings
(mainly for large granule). The initial
growth centre is called the hilum. These
growth rings are a succession of
alternated amorphous and crystalline
zones (Fig. 2) thus, suggesting that starch
matures in a diurnal rhythm, and that
newly synthesized material is deposited
on the surface as the granule increases in
size (Oates, 1997).
Fig. 2: Schematic view of the structure of a starch granule, with alternating amorphous
and semi-crystalline zones constituting the growth rings (Jenkins and Donald, 1995).
Semi-crystalline growth rings, mainly
composed of amylopectin, are alternating
amorphous and crystalline lamellae. The
ordered regions (crystalline) are tightly
packed glucose chains while the less
ordered regions are predominantly
composed of branching points. Gallant et
al. (1997) described the structure as a
“mozaic of hard and soft material”, the soft
material being a semicrystalline shell
(corresponding to the amorphous zone of
Fig. 2) and a crystalline hard shell. The
latter is alternating amorphous and
crystalline lamellae, in agreement with the
description of Jenkins and Donald (1995).
X-ray diffraction gives two distinct
patterns, A and B. It has been established
that cassava starch is B-type crystallite,
having an hexagonal array formed by two
left-handed parallel stranded double
helices, where a unit cell contains 12
glucose residues and 36 water molecules.
4.2 Swelling and gelatinization
Starch granules swells slightly in cold
water (10–15 % increase in diameter), but
this swelling is reversible. The granules
shrink back to their original dimensions
on drying. Dry starch, when heated in
excess water, starts swelling as the water
is absorbed by the granules. Past a certain
state the phenomenon is irreversible and
is called gelatinization which is a
temperature range in which the starch
granules lose their birefringence when
observed under the microscope in Kofler’s
electrically heated stage. The
gelatinization is not an instantaneous
phenomena, it involves a number of stages
of granule expansion when progressively
heated in excess in water, the morphology
of which varying between different
starches, where granules (i) hydrate
progressively, (ii) double helices undo as
7
hydrogen bonds are ruptured, (iii)
crystalline regions are converted to
amorphous regions as a consequence of
(ii), (iv) granules continue to imbibe water
and swell and (v) ultimately the granules
swell so much that granular form is lost
and they tend towards gelation (∼4%
solids) and/or solubilisation (≤4% solids).
Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) is
used to investigate starch gelatinisation.
DSC studies on starch extracted from five
varieties of cassava possessing different
organoleptic quality (Moorthy et al., 1996)
showed that varietal differences manifest
themselves in the DSC patterns. The
characteristic peak shape could be traced
to structural differences among the
varieties. Park and Rollings (1994)
reported that the swelling of cassava
(larger) starch granules occurred at a
lower temperature than that required for
the swelling of cereal (smaller) starch
granules. Soni et al. (1985) have reported
a two-stage swelling for cassava starch
and attributed it to the two types of force,
which require different energy input to
cause relaxation. However, Moorthy and
Ramanujam (1982) suggested that the
associative forces are decisive in
determining swelling property of cassava
starch. The larger the granules are, the
lower the gelatinization temperature
(Brandam et al., 2003), due to less degree
of association in cassava starches. But
Charles et al. 2005, reported that
gelatinization temperatures increased
almost linearly with decreasing amylose
molecule size and/or content in starch
from different varieties of cassava. Also
the higher the granule size, the higher the
swelling power and vice-versa in cassava
starches. The difference in the
gelatinisation temperatures among the
various cassava starches can be traced to
the variation in the starch intermolecular
bonds. High temperature of gelatinisation
can be an indication of the higher stability
of the starch crystallites in the starch
molecules, which means that more heating
is required to swell the granules. In
addition, a number of other factors like
varietal differences, environmental
conditions and the experimental protocols
like level of moisture, sample preparation,
rate of heating and instrument used
contribute to the differences in values.
The range of gelatinisation is also quite
different among the different starches.
Cassava starch has the highest range (12.9
°C) and the lowest for Xanthosoma starch
(4.7 °C). Higher range has been attributed
to a higher level of crystallinity, which
imparts higher structural stability so that
the water molecules need longer time to
penetrate the crystalline areas (Barichello
et al., 1990). Among different tuber
starches, cassava starch has the lowest
gelatinisation temperatures.
4.3 Retrogradation
Gelatinization and retrogradation are two
important physical behaviors of starch
that are influenced by amylose and
amylopectin fractions. Retrogradation
defines the reassociation of gelatinized
starch molecules resulting in more
ordered structures. These ordered
structures in turn influence starch
physical properties such as the viscosity of
gels and pastes. DSC has also been quite
useful in studying retrogradation
properties of cassava starch. Cassava and
sweet potato starches have low
retrogradation tendency and therefore
high paste stability. Suzuki et al. (1985)
have suggested that the lower
retrogradation tendency of cassava may
be due to the higher weight-average
molecular weight of the amylose fraction
in cassava.
8
4.4 Viscosity
Viscosity is largely influenced by the
granule shape and swelling power (SP),
amylopectin-amylose entanglement, and
amylose and amylopectin granular
interaction (Hoover, 2001). Once the
gelatinized temperature is reached the
viscosity increases rapidly as the swelling
reaches a maximum (viscosity peak).
During this process the amylose molecules
leach out of the granules creating a
medium around the particles composed of
solvent and amylose. The granules keep
swelling until they have reached
equilibrium. After maximum viscosity is
reached, if the temperature continues to
increase, the granules will burst and
disperse completely. This explains the
sharp decrease in viscosity called the
viscosity breakdown of the paste. Upon
cooling the starches will have different
behaviours depending on the
amylose/amylopectin ratio. Starch pastes
with amylose content over 20 % will see
their viscosity increase at ambient
temperature. This is due to reassociation
of aligned amylose chains, usually leading
to a water release phenomenon called
syneresis. The rather low increase in
viscosity after cooling is representative of
“amylopectin behaviour”; the amylopectin
re-crystallises at a slower rate than
amylose and therefore a few days are
necessary to observe a viscosity increase.
Use of starch in textile, paper, adhesive
and food industries depends on the
viscosity of the starch paste. Among
different equipment, the Brabender
Viscograph and Rapid Visco Analyser are
most commonly used. Different starches
exhibit considerable variation in their
viscosity characteristics. When starch of
different varieties of cassava was
compared using a Brabender Viscograph,
mainly three peak patterns were
observed. These were:
  Single stage gelatinisation When cassava starch was subjected to
with high peak viscosity and steam-pressure treatment, the viscosity
high viscosity breakdown fell steadily with increase in pressure and
 Two-stage gelatinisation time of treatment. In addition to peak
with high peak viscosity and viscosity, the breakdown in viscosity is
breakdown another important criterion that decides
 Broad two-stage the applicability of starch in food and
gelatinisation with medium industry. In this respect, cassava starch is
viscosity and medium considered inferior to maize starch,
breakdown. because its viscosity is rapidly lowered on
These patterns seem to be genetically heating under shear leading to a ‘long’ and
controlled as the patterns were cohesive texture for its paste, which is not
maintained by these starches irrespective desirable in food and textile applications.
of the environmental factors, though there
was variation in the viscosity values.
between the starch molecules in the
4.5 Solubility granules. Because of its weaker
associative forces cassava starch has a
Solubility of starch depends on a number better clarity than cereal starches. The
of factors such as source, inter-associative reduction in clarity on pressure treatment
forces, swelling power, presence of other can be attributed to the strengthening of
components, e.t.c. Moorthy and associative forces (Moorthy, 1999).
Ramanujam (1986) reported that
wherever the granules have low swelling 5. Cassava starch hydrolysis
volume they have high solubility showing
that during the growth period due to One of the most important enzymatic
environment and associated physiological reactions that is carried out at an
changes the strength of binding industrial scale is the enzymatic
(associative) forces between the hydrolysis of starch. α-Amylase (1,4-α-d-
molecules in starch granules are reduced glucanohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.1) is essential
considerably in certain varieties leading to during this process and plays a role in the
a very low swelling volume and high liquefaction of starch and the subsequent
solubility. Cassava starch has a higher saccharification where larger
solubility than the other tuber crop carbohydrate chains are hydrolysed and
starches and the higher solubility can be converted into smaller carbohydrates
attributed partly to the high swelling (Chaplin and Bucke, 1990).
cassava starch undergoes during The studies have shown that starches vary
gelatinisation. The solubility values in their resistance to the action of α-
ranged from 25 to 48 % (Rickard et al., amylase. Starches that naturally show a
1991). The solubility of starch of different porous surface, such as corn starch, are
cassava varieties varied from 17.2 to 27.2 more easily degraded than those with
%. smooth surfaces, such as cassava starch
(Franco et al. 1988). Cassava starch
4.7 Clarity susceptibility to enzyme attack is
influenced by several factors, such as
The high clarity of starch has much amylose and amylopectin content (Dreher
relevance in food and textile applications et al., 1984; Hoover and Sosulski, 1985;
and depends on the associative bonds Ring et al., 1988), crystalline structure,
9
particle size and the presence of enzyme
inhibitors. Among these factors, granular
structure is believed to be the most
important (Zhang and Oates, 1999). Corn
starch is more susceptible to hydrolysis
than cassava starch when the reaction
products are not eliminated, these results
indicated that the hydrolysis products
obtained from cassava starch were more
efficient in inhibiting enzyme action
(Franco et al., 1988). Among non-cereal
starches, cassava starch has a relatively
higher enzyme susceptibility than other
starches (Rickard et al., 1991), whereas
potato starch shows stronger resistance to
enzyme attack. Sweet potato starch is
more susceptible than potato starch but
less susceptible than cassava starch to α-
amylase and glycoamylase attack
(Delpeuch and Favier, 1980; Hizukuri et
al., 1988; Kainuma, 1988).
In the hydrolysis of starch, enzyme does
not penetrate freely through the granule
molecular unit, but is limited to certain
areas (Franco and Ciacco, 1987). Scanning
electron microscope (SEM) observations
revealed differences in the enzyme attack
10
of cassava and corn starches. Corn starch
revealed a more susceptible structural
nature under attack by α-amylase or α-
amylase plus amyloglucosidase than
cassava starch. By the use of light
microscope, it could be seen that the
enzymatically treated corn starch was
frequently broken, while the cassava
starch, even under the heaviest amylolytic
conditions, was comparatively less altered
(Fig. 3) (Franco et al., 1988). In fact,
cassava starch under α-amylase treatment
was mildly exo-corroded (Fig. 3b). The
same treatment applied to corn starch
attacked the surface deeply and also the
inner granule parts (Fig. 3e).
Characteristic lamellae arrangement was
displayed after α-amylase treatment (Fig.
3f and 3g). In fact, these figures suggest
that the lamellae are not just planes of
homogeneous and regular highly
crystalline compact organization, but
planes that conceal a linear core,
susceptible to degradation under those
enzymatic conditions. Furthermore,
transverse connections were observed
that bonded the lamellae.
Figure 3: Scanning electron micrographs of cassava and corn starches “in natura” or
enzymatically treated (Franco et al., 1988).
(a) cassava starch “in natural” (1500x),
(b) cassava starch with α-amylase treatment: mild exocorrosion occurs (2000x),
(c) cassava starch, same conditions plus amyloglucosidase: same radial channels of corrosion
appear (2000x),
(d) corn starch “in natural”,
(e) corn starch with α-amylase treatment:numerous radial channels of corrosion show it to be
more suspectible than cassava starch (4500x),
(f) corn starch treated with α-amylase: the radial channels of corrosion split the granule.
exhibiting the lamellae arrangement.This enzymatic attack revealed an inner disruption inside
the lamellae as well as bridges of resisting structures bonding the lamellae perpendicularly
(10000x).

6. Prospect and challenges stability. Cassava starch, along with rice,

Chemically modified food starches
generally show better paste clarity and
stability, increased resistance to
retrogradation, and better freeze–thaw
11
pea, and amaranth starches, are promising
for new base starches to be employed in
modification processes (BeMiller, 1997).
Since cassava roots contain high starch
content, but low quantity of impurities
such as protein and lipid, they are
recognized as an excellent source of pure
starch suitable for a wide range of
applications. This starch is used for the
production of foods, drugs, adhesives,
bioethanol and animal feed. The most
important characteristics of cassava
starch are odorless, paste clarity, and
stickiness. These remarkable
characteristics of cassava starch are
enabling to be conveniently and readily
blended with other flavoring and coloring
agents. In addition to it, is of low cost and
a plentiful supply, the properties of
cassava starch makes it a choice of
ingredient in many food and bioethanol
industries. Among non-cereal starches,
cassava starch has a relatively higher
enzyme susceptibility than other starches
(Rickard et al., 1991).
Charles et al. (2005), investigated
properties of five cutivars of cassava
starches and reported that the starches
have significantly different properties: the
mean diameter of isolated starch granules
ranged from 13.36 to 17.24 µm;
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12
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