Effects of high pressure homogenization on rheological properties of rice starch.

Gelatinized starch paste was prepared by gelatinizing rice starch at 95 °C in a water bath. Then, the rice starch (both normal rice starch and waxy rice starch) paste was subjected to high-pressure homogenization at homogenizing pressure of 20, 40, 60, 80 MPa. The rheological properties (including shear stress versus shear rate, apparent viscosity versus shear rate and thixotropy) of starch paste were studied. The high-pressure homogenization was able to improve the flow properties of starch paste. The shear stress increased with the increasing shear rate, and the Power law equation was capable of fitting the shear stress versus shear rate quite precisely. High-pressure homogenization treatment sharply decreased the thixotropy of starch paste, and the thixotropy of rice starch (both NRS and WRS) paste decreased with the increasing homogenous pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]