Preparation of high viscosity beta-glucan concentrates
AssigneeThe Governors of the University of Alberta
InventorsThava Vasanthan, Feral Temelli, Zvonko Burkus
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Abstract
This invention relates to methods for secondary processing of plant material and in particular for the recovery of valuable products such as fiber including beta-glucan, starch, and ethanol solubles from plant material containing starch and fiber. In particular, the invention relates to the preparation of high viscosity beta-glucan products through methods involving sonication/sonification and enzymes.
Claims37
A method of preparing a beta-glucan (BG) product comprising the steps of:
- a) mixing a flour and an alcohol to form a flour/alcohol slurry;
- b) separating a fiber residue from the alcohol, wherein the fiber residue has a high BG content;
- c) subjecting the fiber residue from step b) to at least one additional treatment step, the additional treatment step including mixing the fiber residue from step b) with an alcohol to form a fiber residue/alcohol slurry and subjecting the fiber residue/alcohol slurry to a sonication, protease or amylase treatment step or a combination of a sonication, protease or amylase treatment step and thereafter separating a final fiber residue from the fiber residue/alcohol slurry.
A fiber residue having a high beta-glucan (BG) content and a high viscosity, the high viscosity characterized wherein a 0.5% (w/w) BG solution prepared from the fiber residue has a viscosity greater than 200 mPa·s at a shear rate of 12.9 s−1 at 20° C.
A fiber residue having a high beta-glucan (BG) content and a high viscosity, the high viscosity characterized wherein a 0.5% (w/w) BG solution prepared from the fiber residue has a viscosity greater than 350 mPa·s at a shear rate of 12.9 s−1 at 20° C.
A fiber residue having a high beta-glucan (BG) content and a high viscosity, the high viscosity characterized wherein a 0.5% (w/w) BG solution prepared from the fiber residue has a viscosity greater than 500 mPa·s at a shear rate of 12.9 s−1 at 20° C.
The use of ultrasonication to produce a beta glucan product high in beta glucan content from a slurry of a flour and an alcohol.
A method of preparing a high viscosity beta-glucan product comprising the steps of:
- a) mixing a flour in aqueous ethanol to produce a first flour-alcohol slurry;
- b) filtering the flour-alcohol slurry to produce an alcohol filtrate and a first fiber residue;
- c) mixing the first fiber residue with aqueous ethanol to form a fiber residue/alcohol slurry;
- d) filtering the fiber residue/alcohol slurry to produce a second alcohol filtrate and a second fiber residue containing high viscosity beta-glucan;
- wherein either or both of the flour/alcohol or fiber residue/alcohol slurries are subjected to an ultrasonication treatment.
A method of controlling the degree of fragmentation of beta-glucan (BG) within an aqueous alcohol BG fiber residue solution comprising:
- subjecting the aqueous alcohol BG fiber residue solution to a sonication treatment wherein the ratio of water:alcohol in the solution is selected on the basis of the desired fragmentation of beta glucan within the solution wherein a lower water:alcohol ratio is selected to decrease the level of fragmentation of beta glucan within the solution and a higher water:alcohol ratio is selected to increase the level of fragmentation of beta glucan within solution.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.