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Updated: May 9, 2026

Analysis and Specification of Starch Granule Size Distributions
Published on: March 4, 2021
Understanding the role of plasticisers in spray-dried starch
Muhammad Bilal Khan Niazi1, Mark Zijlstra, Antonius A Broekhuis
1School of Chemical & Materials Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology. NUST Campus, H-12, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Abstract:
Amorphous thermoplastic starch (TPS) films were produced by compression moulding of solution spray-dried TPS powder and by direct solution casting. Oxidised potato starch was used as a feedstock for production of plasticised formulations containing glycerol or urea, or their combinations with maltodextrin (DE=19.1) as processing aid. The crystallinity index of freshly moulded films made from solution spray-dried powder was significantly lower than that for casted films. FTIR analysis showed that starch interacted in hydrogen bond formation with glycerol and urea plasticisers, reducing the glass transition temperature to 136 °C and 106 °C, respectively. Formulations containing maltodextrin did not show a Tg. Glycerol-plasticised and co-plasticised films immediately started to retrogradate in the presence of moisture, while urea based systems only showed slow recrystallization at the highest moisture exposure. In line with retrogradation behaviour, urea plasticised and co-plasticised films exhibited a more ductile behaviour, whereas glycerol based ones showed more brittle behaviour.
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