Improving the production efficiency of sweet potato starch using a newly designed sedimentation tank during starch sedimentation process

摘要

Starch sedimentation process in sweet potato starch production traditionally uses sedimentation pond (SP), but it is often time-consuming with contamination issues. In order to improve the production efficiency, a sedimentation tank (ST) was designed, and its effect on the starch and protein contents, bacterial composition, and pH of the slurry was evaluated in comparison with the SP. The sedimentation process using ST took 12 hr less time, and it resulted in more thorough starch sedimentation with 0.76% less starch content in the surface liquid. The higher initial pH of ST (6.01–6.69) contributed to less protein contamination of starch. The bacteria composition later in the starch sedimentation process was significantly different in two production equipment, with Leuconostoc and Lactobacillus being the dominant bacteria in ST and SP, respectively. All these results confirmed that ST was more efficient for starch sedimentation with less production time, increased starch yield, and improved starch quality.