Pulsed electric field assisted modification of octenyl succinylated potato starch and its influence on pasting properties

The physicochemical properties and structural changes of potato starch esterified with octenyl succinic anhydride (OSA) assisted with pulsed electric field (PEF) were investigated. Results showed that PEF treatment during esterification resulted in a significant modification of pasting properties. The pasting temperature at 2-6 kV/cm reduced by 7.6-15.1 degrees C for PEF-assisted OSA starches but only by 3 degrees C for OSA modified starch without PEF treatment as compared to that of native starch. PEF-assisted esterification could reduce the reaction time and improve the reaction efficiency over the control by 6.1-39.1 %. A novel schematic model on structure-functionality relationship for PEF-assisted OSA modified starch was proposed. Structural disorganizations of starch induced lower pasting temperature and paste viscosity. The results suggest that PEF could be a potential eco-friendly and cost-effective physical technique to prepare starch products with desired paste behaviors and to broaden its application area especially in papermaking and textile industries.