Synthesis and Characterization of Cassava Starch Nanocrystals by Hydrolysis Method

Abstract

Cassava starch nanocrystals (CSN) has not been reported in open literature, although other starches such as rice, corn, potato and bean were widely used as the main material. Thus, the objective of this research was to investigate the possibility of synthesizing high yield of CSN at different concentration of sulphuric acid (H2SO4). The physical and chemical properties of synthesize CSN was also investigated. Synthesized CSN was prepared by hydrolysing native cassava starch (NCS) with several concentration of H2SO4 (2.8 M, 3.0 M, 3.2 M and 3.4 M). The acid hydrolysis process took five days with continuous stirring speed of 300 to 400 rpm, with constant temperature of 37 °C. The hydrolysed solution of CSN underwent centrifuging process with distilled water until neutral to make sure that no acid residues remain in the CSN solution. The CSN precipitate was dried in an oven over night at 60 °C. The highest yield (1.1 %) produced was from 3.4 M CSN. Morphology test by Transmission Electron Microscopy indicated that the samples have been destructed and degraded to be nanocrystals with a size range of 5 - 20 nm. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and 13C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) were used to indicate the type of crystallinity for both NCS and CSN.