Effects of electron beam irradiation on ozone-modified potato starch film

Functional starch-based films are promising materials being developed at different laboratories. Native and modified starches are two materials being employed for this purpose. Chemical modification of starch generally involves esterification, etherification, or oxidation of the units that make up the starch polymers. Ozone constitutes an advanced oxidation technology for starch modification. In this work, properties of two kinds of materials - ozone-modified potato starch and irradiated ozone-modified potato starch-based films - were evaluated. Potato starch films were submitted to electron beam irradiation with doses up to 40 kGy. Films were produced by the casting technique using native and ozonated potato starch, glycerol as the plasticizer, and water as the solvent, and characterized in term of solubility and absorption of water, determination of oxygen gas transmission rate and Fourier Transform infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. Ozone-modified potato starch presented strong alterations on pasting properties, with drastic reduction of viscosity values, water solubility and oxygen permeability. The data reported in this work contribute to the understanding of the ozone-modification process on starch and suggests further possibilities of industrial applications of ozonation on biomaterials.