Starch Pros

October 15^th 2019

International dialogue and cooperation between Starch associations.

Today, the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) joined the starch associations of China, Europe, Mexico, Russia, Turkey and the US are delighted to jointly announce the creation of the International Federation of Starch Associations (IFSA).

The purpose of this Federation will include promoting robust industry dialogue and coordination and the sharing of resources on policy advocacy. Shared policy priorities include health & nutrition, workplace safety, sustainability, product safety and environmental affairs, as well as the coordination of our efforts to communicate on the benefits of starch-based products. IFSA will also aim to act as one voice towards international stakeholders such as the WHO and CODEX.

“America’s corn refiners are committed to working with partners both domestically and around the world to advance recognition of the wide variety of applications and uses for starches – not only in food production, but throughout our economy.” – John Bode, President and CEO, Corn Refiners Association.

“We are delighted with the launch of this Federation today, and look forward to working together with our colleagues from across the globe on the exciting innovations in our industry, as well as the shared challenges we face.” – Jamie Fortescue, Managing Director, Starch Europe.

For more information, visit www.internationalstarch.org today.

Source: https://corn.org/international-starch-associations/

October 06^th 2019

The farmer community in Sri Lanka is in for a bonanza soon when the Starch Industries (Pvt) Ltd, a Sri Lankan agri-pharma company based in Colombo with Scandinavian and Sri Lankan management launches its cassava (manioc) refining industry in Welikanda in the Polonnaruwa district next week.

The market for organic manioc starch is growing at global level. Hence, the Starch Industries will set up a large-scale industrial complex to process manioc roots and refine them into tapioca starch as well as processing cassava leaves into leaf extract powder and capsules.

The business operations of the Starch Industries include production, processing, sales and export of organic cassava and tapioca starch.

Sweden-based starch manufacturer has selected Sri Lanka because this country has a long tradition of manioc cultivation. Sri Lanka is an ideal location for growing cassava.
The company also felt, “Sri Lanka is also a favourable location for directing Foreign Direct Investments due to pretty stable political conditions and favorable financial incentives and protection for foreign companies.”

“Sri Lanka together with Bangladesh and India are among the world s most emerging markets We will make our contribution to create growth in the historically Important agriculture industry in Sri Lanka.”

Starch Industries (Pvt) Ltd is currently establishing three major business lines – Cultivation and sales of organic cassava in Sri Lanka and exporting to customers in China and the Middle-East, Refining of organic cassava into tapioca starch to be exported to Europe, USA, China and the Middle-East, other Asian markets and Processing and packing of cassava leaves to be sold as vegetable, to be cleaned, crushed and used in herb capsules as nutrition supplement and used as medicine for cancer treatment and in ayurvedic medicine and to be sold as animal fodder.

This project is being implemented in co-operation with Gramashakthi Village Empowerment Movement of President Maithripala Sirisena. It is a true win-win situation for the country, the agriculture industry and the farmers with efficient and sustainable use of underutilized lands across the island for cultivation of cassava – a native crop which requires less investments, fertilizers and pesticides and is easy for the farmers to grow.

This is the first project to produce value-added cassava products in Sri Lanka and create a large market for export.

The Starch Industries’ project aimed to become the number 1 exporter of manioc products in Sri Lanka and a world class organic agricultural company.

Starch Industries (Pvt) Ltd (STIN) is the Sri Lankan operational company of Starch Industries Global Ltd., (STIG), a British registered company. Ten years of planning, significant investments, previous operations of the largest cassava plantation in Sri Lanka comprising of 300 acres, involvement in various successful agricultural operations and close co-operation and partnership with the Government has enabled STIN to launch probably the largest agricultural project in the history of Sri Lanka.

The proposed produce of this project are organic cassava roots, tapioca starch, cassava leaf extract and potentially also tapioca flour, as well as other crops such as fruits and vegetables grown as rotation crops.

Its services are cultivation, processing, production, marketing, distribution and sales of the products. Its production facilities include tapioca starch plant, cassava leaf processing plant, bio gas plant, nucleus plantation, out-grower farms, irrigation systems and logistics system.

Starch Industries will also introduce new cultivation technology in Sri Lanka, cutting edge cassava cultivation technologies and methodologies to enhance yields, produce healthy crops and providing training to promote the next generations of farmers.

The Company aims to become a significant producer of tapioca starch to the world market, a leading employer in Sri Lanka, provide stable incomes, and create a better standard of living for numerous farmers and their families and stimulate economic growth in rural areas.

Starch Industries is about to set up a large-scale industrial complex to process cassava roots and refine them into tapioca starch as well as processing cassava leaves into leaf extract powder and capsules.

The Company is setting up a nucleus plantation in addition to working with GramaShakthi to establish large-scale supply of cassava through a one-of-its-kind outgrower farmer system.
Future expansion potentially also includes set up of a bio ethanol plant based on cassava as well, especially to process the lower grade roots which are not perfectly suited for producing high-quality organically certified tapioca starch.

The total project will engage from 20,000-100,000 farmers during the coming 10-15 years and establish organic cassava cultivation on up to 100,000 acres of farmland throughout Sri Lanka.

Under this project, a farmer out-grower system will be established to improve the livelihood of local farmers through cultivation of organic cassava in North-Central Province of Sri Lanka through a collaboration between Starch Industries (STIN), the GramaShakthi People’s Movement Program.

The Grama Shakthi People’s Movement Program will be benefited through establishment a well-functioning out grower farmer system for cassava cultivation that can be replicated for other agriculture projects in Sri Lanka. It will provide cultivation expertise and significant knowledge of modern agriculture practice to enable the Program to provide improved services to their farmer networks.

Under this, a significant contribution could be made to introduce new technologies and efficient cultivation methodology to modernise the agriculture industry of Sri Lanka.

The farmers and local communities will be benefited by supply of cassava stem cuttings to farmers for planting purpose when required, transportation services to pick up cassava leaves and roots from farmers and deliver to the STIN factory, access to crop insurance to the farmers and to financial security advisory, micro finance, buyback guarantee.

A fully compostable shrink-wrap for cucumbers has been developed in South Australia and is set to be launched on international markets.

The compostable wrap is manufactured by BioBag World Australia and took 12 months to develop in partnership with South Australian produce and packaging businesses IG Fresh Produce.

It was launched in September as an environmentally friendly alternative to the traditional polyethylene plastic wrap and has already generated export interest from Qatar and South Africa.

IG Fresh executive director George Antonas said he was approached by South Australian independent grocer Drakes Supermarkets to develop a compostable fruit and vegetable wrap to replace traditional shrink-wrap.

Antonas said the product was being used exclusively on cucumbers sold at Drake’s 38 South Australian supermarkets until October 16, after which it’d be available for a wide range of purposes.

“JP Drake put the challenge to us and so we gave them product exclusivity for the first four weeks,” Antonas said.

IG Fresh produce is a fruit and vegetable wholesaler located the South Australian capital Adelaide.

Antonas said a potential investment partner from Qatar had travelled to Adelaide for the product launch with Drakes. He expected to begin exporting cucumbers dressed in the compostable wrap to Qatar by the end of October, with exports to South Africa and Europe to follow.

The bioplastic film is made from a compostable resin called Mater-Bi that uses substances obtained from plants including non-genetically modified corn starch.

While there are other compostable products on the market, Antonas said creating a 100 per cent industrially compostable cucumber wrap required a unique process.

“That’s where Scott Morton’s expertise came into it – because it’s heat shrunk onto the cucumber. There’s plenty of compostable products out there but this one is for a specific purpose,” Antonas said.

“There’s a big push to make all single use packaging compostable. So, you buy a cucumber, you peel off the wrapper and you put it in your greens bin and you know it’s not going to add to landfill and that sort of thing. Plastic has its place but not for single use, it just creates too much waste.”

According to Antonas, the cucumber compostable wrap has the potential to be used on all fruit and vegetables, and BioBag World Australia director Scott Morton agrees.

“The potential is endless. It’s improving all of the time. I see it as a direct replacement for plastic,” Morton said.

Norway-based BioBag has six factories and 20 market or distribution partners around the world, producing over one billion bags a year.

Morton said BioBag was also working on a non-shrink-wrap compostable product that could replace plastic cling films.

He said the cucumber wrap developed in South Australia could also be distributed in major global markets including the United States.

“We’re trying to enhance the current cucumber wrap. It’s not quite suitable yet as a cling wrap alternative,” he said.

“We’re developing a new product that’s more for the international market. That’s a product that will especially keep fruit and vegetables fresh.

“We have some proprietary technology that we incorporate into it, so that way it’ll keep fruit fresh.”

Source: http://theleadsouthaustralia.com.au/industries/manufacturing/compostable-cucumber-wrap-delivers-a-win-in-war-on-plastic/

September 30^th 2019

A new, natural wax coating makes garments water-resistant and breathable.

There is a growing concern over the environmental impact of textile production and many waterproof products on the market are prepared with toxic chemicals. This is increasing demand for new sustainable material alternatives, but making non-toxic, breathable and waterproof textiles, sustainably and economically has thus far proven to be a challenge.

Now Aalto researchers have developed an ecological and water repellent wax particle coating suitable for wood cellulose fibres, which also retains the breathability and natural feel of the textile. The coating uses carnauba wax, which is also used in such things as medicines, foodstuffs, as well as the surface treatment of fruits and car waxes. The new coating is suitable not only for textiles but also for other cellulose-based materials.

During the processing, the wax is thawed and decomposed in water into wax particles that are anionic (i.e. negatively charged) just like cellulose. For the wax particles to adhere well to the cellulose surface, something cationic (i.e. positively charged) is needed as a buffer, since the oppositely charged particles attract one another. In previous studies, a natural protein called polylysine was used for this.

However, as Aalto University PhD student Nina Forsman points out, ‘Polylysine is very expensive so in our current study, it’s been substituted with a much cheaper, cationic starch that’s already commercially available’. Though cationic starch is not quite as effective as polylysine, two layers of the starch mixed with two wax particles are sufficient to make the textile waterproof.

The researchers compared the breathability of textiles treated with natural wax with textiles that had been treated with commercial products. Ecological wax particles made the textiles waterproof and also retained their breathability, while textiles treated with commercial controls had reduced breathability.

The multidisciplinary research team also included designer Matilda Tuure from the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture and as part of her master’s thesis, she designed and manufactured three coats for which the wax coatings were put through their paces.

The wax coating can be applied to the textile by dipping, spraying or brushing onto the surface of the textile, and all three methods were tested. They found that dipping is suitable for smaller items of clothing and spraying or brushing is better for larger ones. In industrial-scale production, wax treatment could be part of the textile finishing process along with the colour pigmentation of the wax, which makes dyeing and waterproofing possible at the same time.

The research team found that the wax coating is not resistant to detergent washing, so the product is best suited for less frequently washed outer garments such as jackets. For the sake of simplicity of use, the consumer could potentially apply the coating themselves to the textile after each wash, and this requires more research and development though.

The effect of the drying temperature after wax treatment on waterproofing was also observed, and it was concluded that the best water resistance is obtained when the drying temperature is lower than the melting temperature of the wax.

“We tested the coating on different textile materials: viscose, tencel, cotton, hemp and cotton knitwear. We found that the surface roughness of textiles affects how well it repels water – the rougher the surface, the better. This is because, on a rough surface, water droplets contact the textile surface in a smaller area, ”says Forsman.

A paper on the research was recently published in the journal Carbohydrate Polymers.

Source: https://www.aalto.fi/en 

September 17^th 2019

Starch conferences in Q4 2019.

October 16-18, 2019, in Copenhagen, Denmark