Cereal Chem 66:238-243   |  VIEW ARTICLE

Glycol Glucosides from Starch by Continuous Twin-Screw Extruder Processing.

M. E. Carr and R. L. Cunningham. Copyright 1989 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Acid-catalyzed transglycosylation of starch with ethylene glycol yields a mixture of glycol glucosides that have potential as chemical intermediates for urethane foams, alkyd resins, surfactants, and other products. This reaction was carried out continuously, rapidly, and efficiently in a corotating, intermeshing twin-screw extruder. Rate, extent, and conditions of reaction as well as composition of the crude extrudates were studied. Effects of temperature, acid concentration, screw speed, feed rate (throughput), and residence time were evaluated. Quantitation of the major glucosides in the crude extrudates was carried out by high- performance liquid chromatography. Under optimum reaction conditions 88% of the starch was converted to a mixture of glycol alpha-D-glucoside, glycol beta-D-glucoside, and a diglucoside in a ratio of 1.0:0.6:0.6. This was accomplished in a reaction period of less than 1 min compared with about 20 min for small batch reactions also studied.