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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:
|
Parameters
|
Native/Industrial
Grade |
Pharma
Grade |
Food
Grade |
| Appearance
|
White
Powder |
White
Powder |
White
Powder |
| Odour
|
Odourless
|
Odourless
|
Odourless
|
| 10%
AQ Slurry |
4.5-5.5
|
4.5-6
|
4.5-5.5
|
| Moisture
|
13%
max |
10%
max |
10%
max |
| Max
Starch on DB |
98%
min |
98%
min |
98%
min |
| Total
Ash DB |
0.25%
max |
0.15%
max |
Within
limit |
| Cold
Water Solubility |
0.4%
max |
0.25%
max |
N.A
|
| Protein
Content |
0.5-0.6%
|
N.A
|
0.3-0.4
|
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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