Production of spray-dried starch molecular inclusion complexes on an industrial scale

Abstract

Pregelatinized maize starch and fatty acids were employed as test material to develop a process for the production of molecular inclusion complexes for nutritional and therapeutic purposes, using a pilot scale spray dryer. Structural and morphological characteristics of samples were assessed using X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and confocal laser scanning microscopy. Functional properties such as particle size distribution and apparent density were also determined. The results indicated that the complexes were effectively formed prior to drying and remained stable during spray-drying. Their degree of crystallinity was about 10–15% whereas their average particle size was 20–40μm and the tapped density was 0.25–0.50g/mL. The process was evaluated for being well suited for the production of starch complexes with sensitive to oxidation and thermal stability compounds having the appropriate functional properties.