Microwave-assisted enzymatic hydrolysis as a novel efficient way to prepare porous starch

To shorten the preparation time of porous starch while simultaneously ensuring its adsorption performance, we treated corn starch with a combination of microwave and complex enzymatic (α-amylase and amyloglucosidase) hydrolysis. Specifically, we investigated the effect of microwave and enzymatic hydrolysis on the structure, physicochemical properties, and adsorption capability of the prepared porous starch. The results showed that the porous starch prepared by combined treatment had denser pores, no new groups were produced in the porous starch, the relative crystallinity, gelatinization temperature, and solubility increased, while the gelatinization enthalpy and swelling power decreased. Compared to enzymatic hydrolysis, the combined treatment yielded starch samples with a larger specific surface area and pore capacity, and the adsorption performance was significantly improved, with water and oil absorption rates increasing from 110.99 % and 133.11 % to 128.29 % and 143.3 %, respectively. These findings indicate that the synergistic processing of microwave and enzymatic hydrolysis has great potential as a productive and rapid method for the preparation of porous starch.