Cassava starch is a powder obtained by extracting starch from cassava and then dehydrating and drying it. Cassava starch includes both native starch and various modified starches, which are widely used in the food industry and non-food industries. Modified starch can be customized according to specific requirements proposed by users to suit special applications.

Main Applications

Food

Native cassava starch is widely used in food formulations, such as baked goods, and is also used in the production of extruded snacks and cassava pearls. Modified starches or starch derivatives are used as thickeners, binders, expanders, and stabilizers, as well as bulking agents, sweeteners, flavor carriers, and fat substitutes. Foods that use Thai cassava starch include canned foods, frozen foods, dry mixes, baked goods, snacks, condiments, soups, sausages, dairy products, meat and fish products, and baby food.

Beverages

Modified starch is used as a colloid stabilizer in beverages containing solid ingredients. In beverages, cassava starch sweeteners are superior to sucrose because they improve processing and enhance product characteristics. When combined with other sweeteners, they fully meet consumer demands. Highly hydrolyzed syrups formed from cassava starch hydrolysis are an ideal source of fermentable sugars in beer brewing.

Confectionery

Native cassava starch and various modified starches have many uses in candy production, such as gelling, thickening, stabilizing systems, enhancing foaming, controlling crystallization, binding, film-forming, and adding gloss. Low-viscosity cassava starch is widely used in gelled candies, such as jellies and chewing gum. Acid-hydrolyzed starch is most commonly used due to its excellent reversibility and gelling ability, which become more pronounced in the presence of sugar. Dry starch is used as a release agent in candy making. Starch-based polyols enable the production of sugar-free chewing gum.

Chemical Industry

Cassava starch-based syrups can be produced at low cost through acid or enzymatic hydrolysis, serving as raw materials for the production of various chemicals, such as monosodium glutamate, amino acids, organic acids, ethanol, ketones, vitamins, and antibiotics.

Adhesives and Glues

Cassava starch dextrin is an excellent adhesive with a wide range of uses, including corrugated cardboard, paper bags, plywood, adhesive paper, adhesive tapes, labels, stamps, and envelopes.

Papermaking

Modified starch used in the paper industry improves paper quality, productivity, and pulp utilization. Cationic starch is used for pulp flocculation and improving wet-end dewatering efficiency, resulting in higher paper machine speeds and increased pulp utilization. Starch retained in the finished paper acts as an internal sizing agent to enhance paper strength. Low-viscosity starches, such as oxidized starch, are used as surface sizing agents to improve paper strength and enhance ink absorption during printing and writing. Modified starch is also used as a binder in pigment coating to produce smooth, white high-grade paper.

Textiles

In the textile industry, cassava starch is often used as a sizing agent to stiffen and protect yarns, as a finishing agent to produce smooth-feeling fabrics, and as a color enhancer to achieve clear, wear-resistant printed fabrics. For textile applications, lightly cooked starch is more effective.

Pharmaceuticals and Cosmetics

Native cassava starch and modified starches can be used as binders, bulking agents, and disintegrants in tablet production. Specially modified starches can serve as carriers for emollients, which are typically mineral oil-based substances. Other modified starches can be used as emulsifiers, encapsulating agents (for vitamins), setting agents (for hair mousse), and thickeners (for shampoos).

Biodegradable Materials

Native cassava starch and modified starches can be blended with petroleum-based or synthetic polymers to improve biodegradability, thereby minimizing the production costs of such environmentally friendly materials.