Food Hydrocolloids 25 (2011) 647e653

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Food Hydrocolloids
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodhyd

Effectiveness of starch removal in a Bath-Substrate-Flow (BSF) device using

surfactants and a-amylase
Encarnacin Jurado Alameda*, Vicente Bravo Rodrguez, Deisi Altmajer Vaz,
Rita de Cassia Siqueira Curto Valle
Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Sciences, University of Granada, Avda. Fuentenueva s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 24 March 2010
Accepted 30 July 2010

The effectiveness of the removal process of starch from different surfaces was studied using a laboratory
device called Bath-Substrate-Flow. To do this, experiments were performed using the following solutions
as washing bath: (a) the commercial nonionic surfactant Glucopon 650; (b) the commercial anionic
surfactant, linear alkylbenzene sulfonate LAS, and (c) the enzyme a-amylase (obtained from the
microorganism Bacillus licheniformis). The washing efciency was related to the temperature of the
process, the washing bath composition and the substrate used. The highest detergency was detected
with the glass spheres presented, followed by the polyurethane discs. The cleaning process with the
polyurethane discs is strongly dependant on the viscosity of the starch lm, because their porous
structure determines milder shear conditions inside them. The effect of temperature on starch removal
was related to the properties of the washing bath (interfacial tension, viscosity, etc.) as well as to the
solubility and viscosity of the soiling agent. The use of surfactants or enzymes under the appropriate
conditions of concentration and/or temperature proved to be an interesting option for clean-in-place
processes of starchy soils in the food industry, guaranteeing cleaning with a reduced risk of
contamination.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Cleaning process
Detergency
Starch soil
Amylase
Surfactants

1. Introduction
Starch is a valuable ingredient for the food industry, being widely
used for thickening, gelling and bulking, as well as a water retention
agent (Singh, Singh, Kaur, Sodhi, & Gill, 2003). It can be used to
produce a great variety of foodstuffs such as soup, sauces, ice-cream,
snacks, beer, chocolates, cakes, porridge and sausages, etc. Hydrolyzed
starch is also a valuable resource which is used for the production of
glucose and fructose syrups and non-food products like ethanol
(Betancur & Chel, 1997). Among the various sources of starch (potato,
rice, wheat and maize), maize is the most important one, representing
more than 80% of the world starch market (Jobling, 2004).
Starch properties can be easily modied to obtain food products
with specic characteristics. For example, temperature greatly
affects the viscosity and water solubility of starch (Aehle, 1997), and
hence, temperature variation can be used for this purpose. The
physical properties of the starch will determine the efciency of
starchy soil removal from hard surfaces, both for industrial and
domestic devices. In the food industry it is frequently found that
uids containing starch and starch-based deposits stick to the inner
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 34 958243307; fax: 34 958248992.
E-mail address: ejurado@ugr.es (E. Jurado Alameda).
0268-005X/$ e see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.foodhyd.2010.07.031

surfaces of pipes and ttings. The strength of adhesion depends on

the interaction between the soil and the material from which the
pipes are made (Liu, Christian, Zhang, & Fryer, 2002; Liu, Fryer,
Zhang, Zhao, & Liu, 2006). Several studies about the adhesion of
starch to textiles have been publish so far (Laurent et al., 2006;
Tanaka & Hoshino, 1999), however little work has been done
involving the hard surfaces which are relevant to the food industry.
The efcacy of the cleaning process depends on numerous
factors such as the properties and concentration of the soiling
agent, the properties of the substrate, the characteristics of the
washing device, temperature, detergent formulation, hydrodynamic forces and the duration of the process (von Rybinski, 2007).
Fryer and Asteriadou (2009) stated that uids containing starch can
be classied as high-viscosity uids which require different
temperatures for their removal, depending on the concentration
and the physical structure of the gel.
In detergent formulation, enzymes contribute to an increase in the
efciency of the removal of stains, enhancing the action of surfactants
and improving the performance of the washing process (Galante &
Formantici, 2003), with the advantage that the washing conditions
are milder than with enzyme-free detergents (Gupta, Gibras,
Mohapatra, Goswani, & Chauhan, 2003). The use of enzymes saves
energy because they require lower temperatures, and they also allow

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the reduction or replacement of other components that may be

harmful to the environment (Bravo Rodrguez, Jurado Alameda,
Martnez Gallegos, Reyes Requena, & Garca Lpez, 2006). Among
the detergent enzymes, amylases are the second most frequently used
(Mitidieri, Martinelli, Schrank, & Vainstein, 2006). The a-amylase
produced from Bacillus licheniformis is the most widely used in
detergents due to its heat tolerance and intrinsic thermostability
(Upadek & Kottwitz, 1997).
The cleaning process in the food industry is considered a critical
operation. It requires specic protocols and chemical agents to leave
the surfaces physically and microbiologically clean, avoiding hygiene
problems and obstructions in the equipment (Liu et al., 2002).
Jurado-Alameda, Bravo-Rodriguez, Bailn-Moreno, Nuez Olea,
and Altmajer Vaz (2003) have proposed a laboratory device,
called Bath-Substrate-Flow (BSF), which simulates the cleaning
process in a dishwashing machine. In the present work, we used
the BSF device to study the removal of starch at different temperatures. Several substrates and detergent compositions comprising
both surfactants and a-amylase enzyme were tested.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Materials
Commercial grade granular maize starch (Maizena) (11.5%
moisture, 0.29% fat, 0.3% protein) was acquired from a local supplier.
As components of the detergent formula we used two commercial
surfactants: a nonionic Glucopon 650 EC (Henkel KgaA, Dsseldorf,
Germany) and an ionic linear alkylbenzene sulphonate e LAS (CEPSA
Qumica, San Roque, Spain). Table 1 summarizes the main characteristics of these commercial surfactants. A commercial preparation of
thermostable exo-amylase 1,4-a-D-glucan-glucanohydrolases, EC
3.2.1.1 from B. licheniformis was obtained from Sigma (A3403-500KU).
2.2. Soiling agent
A protocol was established to prepare and to deposit a gelatinized maize-starch soiling agent over the surface of the three
substrates, giving the same detergency values under the same
conditions. The soil consisted of gelatinized starch with humidity
Table 1
Main properties of the commercial surfactants used.
Glucopon 650 EC (alkyl polyglucoside)

Structural formula

Carbon chain lengthb

Degree of polymerization (DP)
Critical micelle concentration (CMC, g/L) (25)
HLB

C8eC14
1.3
0.073 g/L (37  C)
11.9

LAS (linear alkylbenzene sulphonate)

Structural formula

Carbon chain lengthb

Critical micelle concentration (CMC, g/L)a

C10eC13
1.018 g/L (37  C)

a
Bravo-Rodrguez et al. (2005). Determination of average molecular weight of
commercial surfactants: alkylpolyglucosides and fatty-alcohol ethoxylates. Journal
of Surfactants and Detergents, 8, 341346.
b
Information reported by the suppliers.

levels between 92.9 and 93.1% (w/v). The gel was produced by
heating a suspension (8% w/v) at 75  2  C (Souza & Andrade, 2002)
for one hour with constant agitation. After cooling to room
temperature, the gel was used to soil the substrate.
The rheological characterization of the starch gel was performed
in a Haake VT500 (Haake, Germany) rotational viscosimeter,
equipped with a NV Rotor. Samples were loaded into the sample
cup and allowed to stabilize for 10 min at temperatures of 30, 45
and 60  C and were then subjected to a programmed shear rate
increasing from 15 to 500 s1.
2.3. Substrates
As substrates, we used glass spheres with a diameter of 3 and
6 mm and discs of expanded polyurethane with a diameter of 8 mm
and 2 mm of thickness.
The soiling procedure of the polyurethane discs consisted of the
following steps: (a) each disc was dipped into a predened amount
of a gelatinized starch (32 units in total) (b) once submerged the
gel, the disc was compressed to ensure the complete soaking of its
pores with the starch, (c) the disc was left out of the gel in order to
drain off the excess gel and then (d) they were placed one-by-one
inside the packed column; The amount of starch absorbed in the
discs was determined by weight difference. The quantity of gel
added was 10e12 g to 32 units of polyurethane discs.
The glass spheres were soiled with starch by the following
procedure: (a) a predened amount of gelatinized starch (15 g) and
glass spheres (70 g) were brought into contact in a beaker and
manually mixed, (b) the spheres were then placed inside the
packed column; (d) the quantity of the starch gel adhering to the
substrate was determined by weight difference as described for
the polyurethane discs.
2.4. Washing tests
The washing tests were performed in the Bath-Substrate-Flow
(BSF) device proposed by Jurado-Alameda et al. (2003), which
simulates a clean-in-place process. The BSF device was developed
by our research group and it was rst used to study the cleaning of
surfaces soiled with grease and oily materials. The results of these
previous studies enabled us to formulate efcient detergents for
industrial purposes, which are being commercialized now (Spanish
patent P200701880; Jurado-Alameda et al., 2008) with satisfactory
results in real systems. The efcacy of the cleaning process carried
out in the BSF device can be determined by the analysis of the
soiling agent removed from the surface of the substrate.
A simplied scheme of BSF device is shown in Fig. 1, where (1) is
the stirred tank containing the washing solution (400 mL of
capacity); (2) is a packed column (50 mL of capacity, 2.5 cm in
diameter and 8.5 cm in height) where the soiling agent is deposited; (3) is a thermostatically controlled bath; (4) is a peristaltic
pump; and (5) is a paddle stirrer. A picture of the packed column,
which was used both for spheres and polyurethane discs, can be
seen in Fig. 2. The voidage in the packed column bed is different for
each substrate (0.4 for 3 mm spheres, 0.5 for 6 mm spheres and 0.9
for polyurethane discs).
In this study, the procedure for the washing assay consisted of
the following steps: (i) preparing the washing solution and starch
soil; (ii) adjusting the experimental conditions (pH, temperature,
recirculation ow, etc.); (iii) soiling the substrate with the soiling
agent; (iv) placing the substrate in the column; (v) beginning the
detersive process, i.e., sampling the washing bath (control) and
switching on the peristaltic pump to start the washing process; and
(vi) sampling the washing bath at 15 min after the start of the test
and (vii) analyzing the starch present in the washing bath.

E. Jurado Alameda et al. / Food Hydrocolloids 25 (2011) 647e653

649

Table 2
Summary of the experimental conditions.
T ( C)

30
45
60

Washing bath
Water

a-Amylase
(20 mL/L)

LAS
1 g/L

LAS
2 g/L

Glucopon
650 1 g/L

Glucopon
650 2 g/L

S3eS6eD
S3eS6eD
S3eS6eD

S3eD
S3eD
S3eD

S3eD

e
S3eD
e

e
S3eD

e
S3eD
e

S3: 3 mm glass spheres.

S6: 6 mm glass spheres.
D: polyurethane discs.
T: temperature of the cleaning process.

2.5. Analysis of starch soil

Fig. 1. Scheme of the BSF device.

For these experiments, the washing process was repeated at

least 3e5 times and was carried out at 30, 45 and 60  C, using
water, a-amylase solution (20 mL of enzyme/L of bath) and LAS and
Glucopon solutions as the washing bath, as shown in Table 2. The
stirring speed in the tank, the ow rate of the washing solution and
the volume of the washing bath were kept constant at 100 rpm,
30 L/h and 0.5 L, respectively, throughout all experiments.
The detersive performance or detergency (De, %) was calculated
as the percentage of soil in the wash bath (mbath) relative to the
total amount added to the substrate at the beginning of the process
(mstarch), according to Eq. (1).

De

mbath
 100
mstarch

(1)

To apply Equation (1) we assume complete mixing of the

washing solution throughout the BSF device, i.e., the composition of
the washing bath is the same in each point of the system.
Furthermore, we also assume that the sampling volume is negligible compared to that of the cleaning solution (0.2% v/v).

The total amount of soluble carbohydrate in the cleaning solution was analyzed by the phenol-sulfuric acid colorimetric assay
(Dubois, Gilles, Hamilton, Rebers, & Smith, 1956). For this, rstly
a chemically hydrolyzed starch was produced using equal volumes
of sulfuric acid solution (2 N) and sampled. This was heated at
100  C for 30 min, and then cooled in an ice bath. Subsequently,
0.5 mL of this solution, was mixed with 0.5 mL of phenol solution
(5% w/v) and 2.5 mL of concentrated sulfuric acid (96%), and
agitated in a vortex. The absorbance was determined after 10 min at
490 nm and compared with a glucose concentration standard
curve. To express the experimental results in terms of starch
concentration, the values of glucose concentration were multiplied
by 0.9 (Lampitt, Fuller, & Godenberg, 1947).
2.6. Enzyme activities
A potato starch solution (1% w/v) was used to determine the

a-amylase activity. This was prepared by dissolving potato starch

in deionized water, boiling it for 3 min and cooling it to room
temperature using an ice bath.
The reaction mixture consisted of 1 mL of starch solution (1% w/v)
and 10 mL of enzyme solution. The assays were carried out at 30, 45
and 60  C and for each temperature the enzyme was diluted 200, 500
and 800 times, respectively. The test tubes were submerged in a bath
equipped with a thermostat for 25 min.
Enzyme inactivation was achieved by the addition of 3 mL of
hydrochloridric acid 2 N and cooling in an ice bath. The hydrolysis
assays were carried out by measuring unhydrolysed starch using
the iodometric method (adapted from Fuwa, 1954). Whereby
100 mL of starch/deactivated enzyme solution, 4.9 mL of distilled
water and 100 mL of I2eKI (0.2e2% w/v) were mixed and the
absorbance at 575 nm was measured in a spectrophotometer. The
result was compared with a starch concentration standard curve.
The activity was determined by analysis of initial velocity (vs)
and calculated using Eq. (2):

vi
d
Venzyme

(2)

where, A is the a-amylase activity dened as the quantity of

enzyme in mL required to hydrolyse 1 mg of starch per minute, at
assay temperature, when 10 mg starch was present at the start of
the reaction and d is the enzyme dilution. Venzyme is the enzyme
volume used in the reaction.
2.7. Interfacial tension and contact angle

Fig. 2. Pictures of the column packed with different substrates: (a) 3 mm spheres;
(b) 6 mm spheres; (c) polyurethane discs.

The interfacial tension and contact angle were measured

through drop shape analysis using a KSV CAM 200. For the interfacial tension measurements, dodecane was used as the organic

650

E. Jurado Alameda et al. / Food Hydrocolloids 25 (2011) 647e653

phase. The assays were carried out at three different temperatures

(30, 45 and 60  C) and at least 5e7 repetitions were performed.
The contact angle was measured at 20  C, using surfactant solutions. To cover the glass plates with the soil, a starch gel was prepared
in the same way as previously described. The plates were cleaned with
sulfochromic mixture, dried and immersed in the starch gel. After that,
the excess gel was drained off and nally the plates were oven-dried at
60  C for 5 h. At least, 15e20 repetitions were performed.
2.8. Statistical data analysis
Data were assessed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) and by
Duncans multiple range test with a probability p  0.05 (Duncan,
1955) using Statistica Software.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Enzyme activity
Fig. 3 shows the activity of the a-amylase at different temperatures. As can be seen, enzyme activity increased linearly with
temperature. According to Upadek and Kottwitz (1997) the
temperature optimum of B. licheniformis a-amylase is found near
95  C. Despite this, depending on the soil characteristics and starch
concentration, this enzyme can be used as an auxiliary agent for
cleaning at temperatures lower than 60  C.
3.2. Inuence of the temperature on the cleaning
Temperature affects several factors which are of key importance
for the cleaning process of starchy soils, such as the viscosity and
interfacial tension of the washing bath, the interactions of water
molecules with the hydrophilic groups of starch and the viscosity of
starch gel itself. All of these properties have been studied in this
work to clarify the effect of temperature on starch removal from
hard surfaces.
Fig. 4 shows the efciency of starch removal (15 min of washing)
from glass spheres and discs of expanded polyurethane at different
temperatures, using water as washing bath. Fig. 5 presents the
detergency results for washing tests performed at 45 and 60  C
with polyurethane discs using different washing solutions.
As can be seen in Fig. 4, when glass spheres are used, temperature does not have a signicant effect on detergency. Detergency

Fig. 3. Inuence of the temperature on a-amylase activity. The error bars represent standard deviation (SD) of 3 repetitions.

values obtained for glass spheres (3 and 6 mm) were consistently

higher than those for polyurethane discs, except at 60  C. However,
for polyurethane discs, temperature has a signicant effect on
detergency, cleaning efciency increasing with it. In addition, for
the assays carried out at 60  C, no signicant differences were
observed between the detergency values obtained for the spheres
and those of the discs.
The data suggest that the cleaning process is not the same for
discs and spheres. In the case of the polyurethane discs it is strongly
dependant on the viscosity of the starch lm, because their porous
structure determines milder shear conditions inside them. Consequently, temperature exerts a more pronounced effect on the
washing efciency of this substrate than on that of glass spheres.
It is well known that temperature has an important inuence on
soil removal, promoting dragging and improving starch dissolution.
Hence, at 60  C, detergency increases due to the reduction of the
viscosity of the starch lm. This effect is especially important for
the polyurethane discs, where the mechanical effect is smaller
compared to that of glass beads. As the starch gel is a non-Newtonian uid and exhibits pseudo-plastic behavior, the higher
temperature breaks the intermolecular hydrogen bonds and allows
penetration of water, resulting in more free water available to
facilitate the movement of particles in suspension (Bertuzzi,
Armada, & Gottifredi, 2007). In consequence, the soil ows more
easily. With a shear rate of e.g. 100 s1 the apparent viscosity of
starch gel reduced by 27% when the temperature was increased
from 30 to 45  C. The increase from 45 to 60  C reduced the
apparent viscosity by a further 20% (Table 3).
When surfactant solutions of 1 g/L were used to clean the discs
at different temperatures (Fig. 5), we observed that the highest
values of detergency are obtained at 60  C, independently of the
composition of the cleaning solution, i.e., the increase of temperature from 45 to 60  C always caused a signicant increase in
detergency. This effect was more pronounced when water was used
as the cleaning solution (17%). Both LAS and Glucopon solutions led
to the same results which were slightly superior to those of water
whatever the temperature, 45 or 60  C. Consequently the use of
surfactants could help to achieve acceptable cleaning performance
at lower temperatures.
Another remarkable aspect is the inuence of temperature on
the viscosity of the washing bath, and in consequence, its effects on
the detergency. Studies on the rheological behavior of alkyl

Fig. 4. Starch soil removal from 3 mm spheres, 6 mm spheres and polyurethane discs,
after washing with water for 15 min at 30, 45 and 60  C. The different letters denote
statistical difference between experimental conditions using the Duncans test with 5%
of signicance. The error bars represent SD of 3e5 repetitions.

E. Jurado Alameda et al. / Food Hydrocolloids 25 (2011) 647e653

Fig. 5. Starch soil removal (%) from polyurethane discs in the BFS device at 45 and
60  C with water and LAS and Glucopon 650 (GLU) solutions (1 g/L). Equal letters
denote no statistically signicant difference between experimental conditions using
the Duncans test with 5% of signicance. The error bars represent SD of 3e5
repetitions.

polyglucosides performed by Schulte, Enders, and Quitzsch (1999)

indicated that the viscosity of surfactant solutions showed an
Arrhenius-like dependence on temperature. These observations are
in accordance with Ortega Rodrguez (2009), who found that the
viscosity of Glucopon 650 solutions slightly decreases with
temperature (20e60  C). Hence, under the experimental conditions
assayed, we can assume that the effect of temperature on the
viscosity of the washing bath does not play an important role in
detergency.
Temperature may also affect the interfacial tension and the
interactions of water molecules with the hydrophilic groups of
starch. Fig. 6 presents the interfacial tension values for different
washing solutions. As can be observed, for alkyl polyglucosides, the
interfacial tension slightly increases with temperature (9.9 and
14.2 mN/m, to 45 and 60  C, respectively). In the case of anionic
surfactant (LAS), a smaller increase of the interfacial tension values
with temperature (32.7 and 35.3 mN/m, to 45 and 60  C respectively) was found.
The interfacial tension values obtained in this work for Glucopon agree with those reported by Kutschmann, Findenegg, Nickel,
and von Rybinski (1995). Similarly, the interfacial tension values
obtained for LAS are in accordance with the study of Al-Sahhaf,
Elkamel, Suttar Ahmed, and Khan (2005).

651

Fig. 6. Interfacial tension of water/dodecane, LAS solution/dodecane and Glucopon

650 solution/dodecane as a function of temperature. The error bars represent SD of
5e7 repetitions.

removal. The highest values of detergency were obtained at 60  C in

the assays with enzyme solution and glass spheres.
For polyurethane discs, the enzyme only signicantly enhanced
the cleaning performance at 60  C. On the other hand, a positive
effect of the enzyme was already detected at 45  C with glass
spheres. Galante and Formantici (2003) also observed that amylolytic enzymes contribute to a more efcient removal of stains of
a starchy nature.
A highly positive effect of temperature on detergency was found
again for polyurethane discs. In this case this effect can also be
attributed to the increase in a-amylase activity, which rises with
temperature (Fig. 3).
3.4. Inuence of surfactants
The effect of two different surfactants, one anionic (LAS) and
another nonionic (Glucopon 650), on detergency of starch soil were
evaluated on 3 mm glass spheres and polyurethane discs at 45  C.
The results are presented in Figs. 8 and 9.

3.3. Cleaning effects of the enzyme

Fig. 7 shows the results of experiments conducted with enzyme
solutions at different temperatures in the BSF device. A control
experiment without enzyme is also presented. Independently of
the substrate, the use of a-amylase positively affects the soil
Table 3
Apparent viscosity of the starch at 30, 45 and 60  C.
Shear rate (s1)

Temperature ( C)
30

45

60

Apparent viscosity (mPa s)

60
100
300
500

389.3
291.6
155.3
105.1

278.0
210.7
116.3
85.2

184.3
152.6
94.6
72.1

Fig. 7. Starch soil removal (%) from 3 mm spheres and polyurethane discs in the BFS
device at 30, 45 and 60  C with water and a-amylase. The different letters denote
statistical difference between experimental conditions using the Duncans test with 5%
of signicance. The error bars represent SD of 3e5 repetitions.

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E. Jurado Alameda et al. / Food Hydrocolloids 25 (2011) 647e653

Table 4
Contact angle of surfactants solutions on a dry starch lm.
Washing bath

Contact angle ( )

Standard deviation ()

Water
LAS (1 g/L)
LAS (2 g/L)
Glucopon 650 (1 g/L)
Glucopon 650 (2 g/L)

24.1a
19.0c
19.8c
23.1b
22.8b

1.5
0.8
1.6
1.1
1.9

Equal letters denote no statistically signicant difference between experimental

conditions using the Duncans test with 5% of signicance. The standard deviation of
15e20 replicates is also shown.

Fig. 8. Average percentage of starch soil removal (%) from 3 mm spheres in the BFS
device at 45  C with water and surfactants LAS and Glucopon 650 (1 and 2 g/L). Equal
letters denote no statistically signicant difference between experimental conditions
using the Duncans test with 5% of signicance. The error bars represent SD of 3e5
repetitions.

For both substrates, surfactants LAS and Glucopon demonstrated the same ability to clean the soiled surface for all the
concentrations used. When glass spheres were used, no signicant
differences were observed in the starch removal process, independently of the composition of the washing bath (water, enzyme,
anionic or nonionic surfactant). However, in the case of the discs,
when surfactants are used, the percentage of detergency was
higher than that observed in tests with water and enzymes
solutions.
The rheological properties of starch gel are greatly inuenced by
surfactants. Ionic surfactants decrease the viscosity of starch pastes
because of the increased swelling of granules with increases
deformability (Radhika & Moorthy, 2008). According to the same
authors, starch forms a complex with anionic surfactant sodium
dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and this complex retains more water in the
granules. Both phenomena can contribute to starch soil removal.

In addition, according to Martnez-Gallegos (2005), no electrostatic

interaction between nonionic surfactants (such as Glucopon) and
starch was observed. Furthermore, the surfactant can form a complex
with the starch causing an increase of the surface tension when
compared to that of a Glucopon solution without starch. On the other
hand, LAS being an anionic surfactant, the electrostatic interactions
with the phosphate groups of the amylopectin in the starch promote
a reduction in the surface tension and improve the starch removal.
These experimental results were conrmed by contact angle
measurements between surfactant solutions of different concentrations and a starch lm (Table 4). As can be seen, the contact angle for
water itself is very low, indicating a good wetting of the starch lm. The
presence of surfactants improves the wetting capacity of water only
slightly. Moreover, the increase in surfactant concentration has no
signicant effect on the contact angle (after 5 min) for both the
surfactants assayed. These results could be explained if one considers
that the values of surfactant concentration are far beyond their CMC.
Similar results were reported by Jurado-Alameda et al. (2009).
4. Conclusions
The effectiveness of the removal process of starch from different
surfaces was studied using a laboratory device called BathSubstrate-Flow, which allowed us to change the substrate as well as
the washing bath and the temperature of the process. The washing
efciency was related to the temperature which was found to exert
an important effect on detergency, particularly in the case of
polyurethane discs. The effect of temperature on starch removal
may be attributed to the changes in the properties of the washing
bath (interfacial tension, viscosity, etc.), as well as the properties of
the soiling agent (solubility, viscosity, etc.). In some cases, both
surfactants and a-amylase improved the cleaning process of the
substrates. The best results were achieved at 60  C with the enzyme
a-amylase. According to these results, the use of surfactants or
enzymes under the appropriate conditions of concentration and/or
temperature proved to be an interesting option for clean-in-place
processes of starchy soils in the food industry, guaranteeing
cleaning with a reduced risk of contamination.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Spanish and Andalusian
Autonomous Government through the Projects CTQ2006-12089
and P07-TEP-02603, respectively.
References

Fig. 9. Average percentage of starch soil removal (%) from polyurethane discs in the
BFS device at 45  C with water and surfactants LAS and Glucopon 650 (1 and 2 g/L).
Equal letters denote no statistically signicant difference between experimental
conditions using the Duncans test with 5% of signicance. The error bars represent
SD of 3e5 repetitions.

Aehle, W. (1997). Development of new amylases. In J. H. van Ee, O. Misset, &

E. J. Baas (Eds.), Enzymes in detergency. Surfactants science series, Vol. 69
(pp. 213e229). New York: Marcel Dekker.
Al-Sahhaf, T., Elkamel, A., Suttar Ahmed, A., & Khan, A. R. (2005). The inuence of
temperature, pressure, salinity, and surfactant concentration on the interfacial
tension of the n-octaneewater system. Chemical Engineering Communications,
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