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Introduction:
Diverse uses of Starch make it a very versatile product. Maize or
Corn Starch is a typical cereal starch with distinctly low
protein and ash contents. Its carbohydrate content of high
purity makes it useful in several industries.
Starch occurs in nature
in many ways. Maize contains about 66% of starch, which can be
separated from other ingredients by various processes such as
steeping, grinding, purifying and drying. The physio-chemical
and functional properties of starch exhibit a wide
variation with slight change in the production parameters. One
of the important properties is the viscosity of starch slurry.
Normally, starch has near neutral PH. With an increase in the
PH, viscosity of starch tends to increase, thus making it
possible to have diverse uses. This is commonly known as High
Viscosity Starch and is used in the textile industry for
sizing.
Maize Starch exhibits
all the properties of native starch with some special features
such as non-foaming & non-thinning characteristics of
boiling solution. Hence maize starch has a marginal effect on
the efficiency in weaving and paper industry. Where high
viscosity starch is used, it imparts higher tensile strength
to the fibre and thus improves the sizing. The remarkable
advantage over tapioca starch is short cooking time of less
than an hour and uniform smoothness of paste. The foaming is
low even at high pH. The starch deeply penetrates into the
fibres making it an ideal choice for sizing and finishing.
Combined with resins, starch produces a permanent finish. Good
binding capacity results in its use as a good filler and
binder in tablets. It is also a vital additive for most of the
adhesives due to these properties. In slurry, it provides body
to food products. It also helps in retaining the viscosity of
foods. Besides this, it is excellent filler in cosmetics by
virtue of its smoothness in dry form. It also participates in
Maillard's reaction in presence of proteins and thus gives the
brown colour in bakery products.
Specifications:
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Parameters
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Native/Industrial
Grade
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Pharma
Grade
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Food
Grade
|
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Appearance
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White
Powder
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White
Powder
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White
Powder
|
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Odour
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Odourless
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Odourless
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Odourless
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10%
AQ Slurry
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4.5-5.5
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4.5-6
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4.5-5.5
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Moisture
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13%
max
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10%
max
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10%
max
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Max
Starch on DB
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98%
min
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98%
min
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98%
min
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Total
Ash DB
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0.25%
max
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0.15%
max
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Within
limit
|
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Cold
Water Solubility
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0.4%
max
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0.25%
max
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N.A
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Protein
Content
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0.5-0.6%
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N.A
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0.3-0.4
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Applications:
1)
By virtue of its Superior uniformity and stability of water
solution, the use of starch is preferred to any other material
for sizing, finishing and printing. It offers economy along
with ease in filling the interstices of the weave. This
provides the requisite strength and weight.
2)
A TEXTILE ENGINEER finds it suitable for all types of
clothes and yarns as it offers a wide titration of parameters
such as viscosity, binding strength and its compatibility with
thermoplastic and thermosetting resins for a permanent finish
and back filling. Moreover, starch has an added advantage of
being washed away easily from the fabric.
3)
Maize starch is one of the earliest excipients
to be used for pharmaceutical dosage forms. Depending on the
application, maize starch acts as a diluent, disintegrating
agent or binder.
4)
For a Householder the ubiquitous nature of starch does not go
unnoticed due to its presence in food products such as ketchups,
ice-creams, cakes, biscuits, chocolates, wafers and dry cell
batteries, detergents, etc. Starch also finds itself
useful in adhesives and gums. Ladies love the soft
and silky feel of starch in talcum powder. Children enjoy the blasting
sound of starch in the crackers. Starch also finds immense
usage in paper industry to enhance bursting & tensile
strength, elongation, fold endurance, pick resistance etc.
Starch also improves the printability of paper by
inhibiting ink penetration and forming a hard firm surface.
Packing:
In 25/50 Kg HDPE bags with inner liner of LDPE, 1 MT Jumbo bag
packing, 25 kg Kraft Multiply paper bags.
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