Starch

Starch is an achromatic, partially crystallized solid material that can be derived from diverse origins, including plants, grains, and fruits. Starch has been widely utilized in numerous industrial sectors due to its affordability, accessibility, and eco-friendly nature. This particular non-ionic polymer has been classified as a polysaccharide consisting of glucose monomers linked together by glycosidic bonds. The starch molecule's chemical formula is (C6H10O5)n, where the “n” stands for the number of units of a monosaccharide called aldohexose (Rath and Sahoo in Miner Process Extr Metall Rev 00:1–14, 2020; Yang and Wang in Miner Eng 124:149–157, 2018). Commonly, two kinds of glucose polymers (amylose (AM) and amylopectin (AP)) are the main components of normal starches (Fig. 1.1). These two items make up the majority of the composition of industrial starch (AP: 70–80% and AM: 20–30%). Other constituents of starch are phosphorus, fatty acids, proteins, and some inorganic compounds. (Rath and Sahoo in Miner Process Extr Metall Rev 00:1–14, 2020; Kar et al. in Miner Eng 49:1–6, 2013). AM and AP are polysaccharides comprising α-glucose monomers linked in a 1,4 configuration. AM is characterized as a lengthy linear molecule, whereas AP is a significantly branched structure formed by multiple chains interconnected through a 1,6 linkage.