2026/01/01 by Muhammad Ezzudin Ramli, Musfirah Zulkurnain, Nor Shariffa Yussof +5 · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Materials Science · #Microencapsulation and Drying Processes #Nanocomposite Films for Food Packaging #Proteins in Food Systems
paper · doi:10.1515/epoly-2025-0100
openalex publication_date 2026/01/01 · openalex created_date 2026/07/17 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
Abstract Physical (thermal and non-thermal) modification of native starch (NS) offers an environmentally friendly strategy to tailor wall-material functionality for microencapsulation. This study systematically compares heat moisture treatment (HMT), annealing (ANN), ultrasonication (US), microwave treatment (MW), and high-pressure processing (HPP) for modifying sago starch and evaluates their effects on physicochemical, structural, morphological, and encapsulation performance toward butterfly pea ( Clitoria ternatea ) phenolic extract. Apparent amylose content remained relatively stable across treatments (23–30 %), although US and HPP increased apparent linear-chain fractions by approximately 30 % and 26 %, respectively. Water absorption capacity increased significantly from 1.67 g/g (NS) to 1.89 g/g (US) and 1.94 g/g (HPP). Correspondingly, solubility increased from 5 % (native) to 5.5 % (HPP), while swelling power increased from 11.5 g/g to 12.1 g/g (US) and 15.1 g/g (HPP). X-ray diffraction confirmed that all samples retained the native C-type polymorph in all samples, while relative crystallinity decreased from 63 % in NS to 62 % and 45 % after US and HPP treatments, respectively. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy revealed no new functional groups, indicating preservation of chemical structure, whereas scanning electron microscopy showed localized surface disruption in US and HPP samples. Spray-dried powders prepared using modified starch wall materials demonstrated enhanced encapsulation efficiency, with US and HPP achieving approximately 32 % and 33 % EE, respectively compared to 26 % for NS. The improved performance is attributed to increase linear-chain availability and enhanced starch–phenolic interactions, facilitating stronger hydrogen bonding and matrix entrapment. Overall, ultrasonication and high-pressure processing emerged as the most effective solvent-free modification techniques for engineering sago starch-based wall materials for spray-dried bioactive delivery systems.