Prospects of polysaccharide aerogels as modern advanced food materials

doi:10.1016/j.tifs.2013.10.003

Trends in Food Science & Technology

Volume 34, Issue 2, December 2013, Pages 124-136

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2013.10.003 Get rights and content

Highlights

•
Aerogels are porous and lightweight materials with high surface area.
•
Polysaccharide aerogels are environmentally compatible materials and suitable for food applications.
•
Polysaccharides are used to form hydrogels, which are further processed into aerogels.
•
Properties of polysaccharide aerogels indicate potential as active packaging and reagent carriers.

Aerogels are porous and lightweight materials capable of active sorption and releasing desired compounds and/or bearing mechanical load. Using polysaccharides as aerogel matrices instead of silicate or synthetic polymers has additional benefits. Polysaccharides can be developed as bio-based, biodegradable, and/or edible materials in food applications. Polysaccharides that could be used to prepare aerogels include cellulose, hemicelluloses, marine polysaccharides, and starch, all of which have in common the ability to form gels either by themselves in the presence of water or with dications, other cross-linking agents, and/or other, blended, or mixed polysaccharides. After the liquid phase is removed, the dry aerogels form solid particles of various shapes and sizes that have high porosity and surface area. These characteristics indicate vast possibilities for the use of polysaccharide aerogels as advanced food materials.

Section snippets

Premises of novel food materials research

Producing an adequate supply of food involves great challenges due to population growth, climate change, and increase in the price of energy. In addition, decreasing petroleum sources have led to the development of advanced bio-based materials to replace conventional synthetic plastics and to create novel environmentally compatible applications. Polysaccharides are envisioned as highly valuable resources in modern industrial applications, as the importance of renewable, non-toxic, and

Potential polysaccharides for aerogel matrices

As the most abundant polysaccharide on Earth, cellulose is an interesting choice for aerogel raw material. Cellulose occurs in all plants; in addition, some animals and certain bacteria can produce cellulose. Other polysaccharide sources include crustacean shells, algae, and numerous plant parts, some of which can be obtained as residual products of industrial processes.

Preparation of polysaccharide-based aerogels

Aerogels are formed by removing liquid from a gel, for example, evaporating water from a hydrogel (Fig. 1). To fulfill the definition of an aerogel, the resulting dried material has to retain most of the porous volume of the parent hydrogel. Depending on the drying method used, removing the liquid phase of a hydrogel can also result in xerogels: during air-drying, the surface tension of water in the gel nanopores creates a capillary pressure gradient in the pore walls, collapsing them, and

Microstructure

The characteristic porous structure of polysaccharide aerogels opens up vast possibilities for novel applications in the food sector. To obtain knowledge about the morphology, surface area, and porosity of aerogels, microscopy and nitrogen physisorption methods can be used (Robitzer et al., 2011a, Robitzer et al., 2011b). See Fig. 4(B). A comparison of air-dried (5 m²/g surface area) and supercritical carbon dioxide-dried (175 m²/g surface area) chitosan gels analyzed with the nitrogen sorption

Suggested applications and targets for development

Due to the novelty of using polysaccharides as aerogel materials, applied research in the food sector is in the initial stage. Only a few patent applications on aerogels containing polysaccharides exist (Chen-Yang et al., 2011, Rein and Cohen, 2011, Thielemans and Davies, 2013). However, the properties of polysaccharide-based aerogels indicate great potential in the food sector, e.g., their high water absorption capacity (Mallepally et al., 2013, Salam et al., 2011) and the safety, edibility,

Conclusions

To be successful in the changing food market, food products can compete with, e.g., high nutritional value, functionality, environmental issues, and price. In addition, the importance of the taste and appeal of edible products should not be underestimated. The characteristics of polysaccharide aerogels have the potential to fulfill these criteria, if the manufacturing technology is developed to be more cost-effective. Polysaccharides can be a source of energy or nutritional fiber. Both are

Acknowledgments

We thank Mari Granström (BASF) and Marjo Kettunen (Aalto University) for kindly providing Fig. 4(B).

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ReviewProspects of polysaccharide aerogels as modern advanced food materials

Highlights

Section snippets

Premises of novel food materials research

Potential polysaccharides for aerogel matrices

Preparation of polysaccharide-based aerogels

Microstructure

Suggested applications and targets for development

Conclusions

Acknowledgments

Carbohydrate Polymers

Carbohydrate Polymers

Journal of Colloid and Interface Science

The Journal of Supercritical Fluids

The Journal of Supercritical Fluids

Polymer

Carbohydrate Polymers

Food Research International

Journal of Food Engineering

Chemical Engineering Journal

Microporous and Mesoporous Materials

Carbohydrate Polymers

The Journal of Supercritical Fluids

Carbohydrate Polymers

Applied Catalysis A: General

Journal of Cereal Science

The Journal of Supercritical Fluids

Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids

Carbohydrate Polymers

Advances in Colloid and Interface Science

Microporous and Mesoporous Materials

Carbohydrate Polymers

Carbohydrate Polymers

Composites Science and Technology

Carbohydrate Polymers

Carbohydrate Research

Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects

The Journal of Supercritical Fluids

Structural regime identification in ionotropic alginate gels: influence of the cation nature and alginate structure

Biomacromolecules

Agar

Variation in dietary fibre, β-glucan, starch, protein, fat and hull content of oats grown in Sweden 1987–1989

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Aerogels from nanofibrillated cellulose with tunable oleophobicity

Soft Matter

Chitosan-based aerogels with high adsorption performance

Journal of Physical Chemistry B

Silica aerogel: synthesis, properties and characterization

Journal of Materials Processing Technology

Alginates

Review
Prospects of polysaccharide aerogels as modern advanced food materials