Agricultural and Biological Chemistry

ISSN: 0002-1369 (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tbbb19

Effect of Gamma-irradiation on Sodium Alginate

and Carrageenan Powder

Tamikazu Kume & Masaaki Takehisa

To cite this article: Tamikazu Kume & Masaaki Takehisa (1983) Effect of Gamma-irradiation on
Sodium Alginate and Carrageenan Powder, Agricultural and Biological Chemistry, 47:4, 889-890,
DOI: 10.1080/00021369.1983.10865740

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00021369.1983.10865740

Published online: 09 Sep 2014.

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Agric. Bioi. Chem., 47 (4),889",890, 1983 889

Note were mixed with 7 ml of N/200 glycol chitosa~ solution and

Effect of Gamma~i~radiation
on Sodium Alginate and
Carrageenan Powder
Tamikazu KUME and Masaaki T AKEHISA
Takasaki Radiation Chemistry Research
Establishment, Japan Atomic Energy
Research Institute, Takasaki,
Gunma 370-12, Japan
Received October 22, 1982·
Sodium alginate and carrageenan derived from brown
and red marine algae,respectively, have recently received
attention as emulsifying, thickening and stabilizing agents,
as well as a dietary food. It has been reported that the
feeding of sodium alginate is effective in reducing the bone
uptake pf radioactive strontium1 ) and in reducing the
strontium contamination of cow's milk. 2 ) These carbo-
hydrates are also used as a clarifying agent for wine and
beer. Hartmann et al. 3 ) have reported that irradiation is not
appropriate for sterilization of the contaminated microor-
ganisms in sodium alginate because of the decrease in
viscosity. It is, however, necessary to investigate the
changes in quality of the carbohydrate as an absorbent or
coagulant due to irradiation. This communication reports
the irradiation effect on the viscosity, surface charge and
effectiveness as a coagulant of sodium alginate and
carrageenan.
The carbohydrate powders were irradiated at room
temperature in air by y-rays from a 60 kCi cobalt-60 slab
source. The viscosity of a 1% solution was measured with
a Brookfield B8L-HM viscometer at 35°C. The negative
surface charge of the carbohydrates was measured by
colloid titration. 4 ) Five ml of 1% carbohydrate solutions
the excess of the added glycol chitosan was titrated with
N/400 potassium polyvinylsulfonate solution, using to-
luidine blue as an indicator. The effectiveness as a pre-
cipitating agent for protein turbidity in sake (Japanese rice
wine) was determined as follows; carbohydrate (0.01 g)
dissolved in 5 ml of sake was added to 100 ml of sake
·containing 0.04% persimmon tannin, and the transmit-
tance at 430 nm of the supernatant was measured after
standing at room temperature for 30 hr.
Table I shows the irradiation effect on pH, viscosity and
relative surface charge for three kinds of sodium alginate
which are technical grades for food. The pH and relative
surface charge were hardly changed while the viscosity de-
creased markedly by the irradiation of 5.0 Mrad for ster-
ilization. From these results, it is considered that radiation
sterilized sodium alginate is not applicable for use as a
thickening or gelling agent but can be used as an absorbent
or coagulant.
For detail study, reagent grade sodium alginate
(Kishida Chemical Co. Ltd.) and carrageenan (A-type,
sulfuric acid group: ca. 29%, Tokyo Chemical Industry
Co. Ltd.) were used. Table II shows the changes in pH and
relative surface charge of the carbohydrates when ir-
radiated with a high dose up to 50 Mrad. The pH
increased in sodium alginate, but decreased in carrageenan
with an increase in dose. The relative surface charge was
stable with irradiation and only decreased by about 10% in
both carbohydrates at 50 Mrad.· On the other hand, the
viscosity was decreased markedly by irradiation in both
carbohydrates. As shown in Fig. 1, the decrease in vis-
cosity of carrageenan was larger than that· of sodium
alginate. These results indicate that the change in effective-
ness as absorbents or coagulants would be small, even at
50 Mrad. For an application of irradiated carbohydrates,
their effectiveness as a precipitating agent for protein
turbidity in sake was examined. The turbidity in sake
caused by heat denaturation of proteins 5 ) is removed by a
precipitation method with persimmon tannin and high
molecular materials such as sodium alginate, carrageenan,

TABLE I. EFFECT OF y-IRRADIATION ON SODIUM ALIGINATE

Sodium Moisture ViscosityC Relative pHd

Dose
alginate (/~) (cp) charge (%)

Unirradiated 214 100 6.68

Aa 13.2
5.0 Mrad 4.3 101 6.72
Unirradiated 379 100 6.68
Ba 13:0
5.0 Mrad 4.4 102 6.69
U nirradiated 159 100 6.70
Cb 20.2
5.0 Mrad 3.6 101 6.82

a Made in Japan.
b Made in China.
C Viscosity of 1% solution was measured with a Brookfield viscometer at 35°C.
d pH of 0.1 % solution was measured.
890 T. KUME and M. TAKEHISA

TABLE II. CHANGES IN pH AND RELATIVE TABLE III. EFFECTIVENESS AS A COAGULANT

SURFACE 'CHARGE OF SODIUM ALGINATE OF IRRADIATED CARBOHYDRATES FOR
AND CARRAGEENAN BY y-IRRADIATION PROTEIN TURBIDITY IN Sake
(RICE WINE)
Sodium alignate Carrageenan
Dose Transmittance (%) at 430nm
Dose
(Mrad) Relative Relative
(Mrad)
pH* charge (%) pH* charge (%) Sodium alginate Carrageenan

U nirradiated 7.52 100 8.83 100 U nirradiated 77.6 77.6

0.1 7.47 100 8.80 101 10 90.6
0.5 7.59 101 8.53 100 50 91.0 88.4
1.0 7.67 97 7.80 103
2.5 7.72 98 7.68 102
5.0 7.72 100 7.39 99 rageenan, while it was not clarified completely after 30 hr
10.0 7.79 100 6.58 96 with unirradiated carbohydrates. The transmittance at
50.0 7.74 89 3.42 87 430 nm of the supernatants after standing for 30 hr are
shown in Table III. This result indicates that irradiation
* pH of 1% solution was measured. accelerates the effectiveness of the carbohydrates as co-
agulants and it was especially effective in sodium alginate.
3 From these results, it is concluded that the radiation
10
sterilization method can be appropriate for carbohydrates
as absorbents or coagulants. Furthermore, high dose
irradiation impr0v.es the quality of carbohytlrates as
coagulants.
0-
u
Acknowledgments. The authors wish to thank
Kimitsu Chemical Industry Co. Ltd. for providing the
sodium alginates, and Professor H. Iizuka of the Science
University of Tokyo and Dr. H. Ito and Dr. H. Watanabe
of their Institute for suggestions and discussions.

2 3
Dose (M rad)
FIG. 1. Changes in Viscosity of Sodium Alginate and
Carrageenan by y- Irradiation.
Viscosity of 1% solution was measured at 35°C. Symbols:
0, sodium alginate; 6., carrageenan.
etc. However, this procedure is not particularly effective
and requires much time in some sake. When the clarifi-
cation effect was observed with the naked eye,6) the
turbidity of sake was clarified after 8 hr with irradiated
sodium alginate and after 30 hr with irradiated car-
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