International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2007, 42, 1–8 1

Original article
Physico-chemical properties of protein-bound polysaccharide
from Agaricus blazei Murill prepared by ultrafiltration and spray
drying process

Joo Heon Hong & Yong Hee Choi*

Department of Food Science and Technology, Kyungpook National University, 1370 Sankyuk-dong, Daegu, 702-701 Korea
(Received 12 February 2005; Accepted in revised form 6 September 2005)

Summary This study was conducted to develop the powder material and investigate the various physico-chemical
properties of protein-bound polysaccharide with different molecular weight from Agaricus blazei Murill
using ultrafiltration and spray-drying process. Powder properties of the three spray-dried powders were very
different based on their molecular weights. The inlet temperature had less influence than pump rate on
particle size of spray-dried powders. The moisture content of powders was increased with increasing pump
rate and decreasing inlet temperature. Among these powders, SD-1, the molecular weight of which is below
10 kDa, was less flowable by internal cohesion. The decomposition temperature for the powders was in the
range of 200–400 C and showed relatively good enough for their thermal stabilities.
Keywords Agaricus blazei Murill, physico-chemical properties, protein-bound polysaccharide, spray drying, ultrafiltration.

of more than about 1–4 · 104 (Yoshiyuki et al., 1990;

Introduction
Polysaccharides from Agaricus blazei Murill have
antitumor activity against sarcoma 180 and the
structure includes b-1,6-glucopyranosyl residues (Miz-
uno et al., 1990). Agaricus blazei extract, mainly
(1–4)-a-d-glucan with (1–6)-b blanching, has selective
tumorocidal activity mediated via natural killer cell
activation and apoptosis (Fujimiya et al., 1998; Nakaj-
ima et al., 2002). Some studies identified antitumoral
activity of A. blazei in rodents and showed that
polysaccharide–protein complexes present in A. blazei
are responsible for this effect (Kawagishi et al., 1989;
Mizuno et al., 1995, 1998). The fine structure, molecu-
lar weight and molecular weight distribution of these
cell wall polysaccharides are very important determi-
nants of their physical properties and functionality,
including their physiological responses when they are
considered as ingredients in functional foods and
other formulated products. Their molecular weights
are also an important factor for antitumor activity,
because the b-glucans such as lentinan (from Lentinus
edodes), schizophyllan (from Schzophyllan commune),
and grifolan (from Grifola frodosa) could induce
antitumor activity when they had molecular weights
*Correspondent: Fax: 82 53 950 6772;
e-mail: yhechoi@knu.ac.kr
Mizuno et al., 1995).
The traditional separation process with gel filtration
and affinity chromatography is not only complicated
but also expensive so that it is required to separate
materials for a regular molecular weight (Grandison &
Lewis, 1996). Among the membrane separation
technology which recently draws attention in food
industry as one of minimal processing technologies,
ultrafiltration has applied to many areas with the
main purposes of clarification, solid concentration,
and fractionation. In the high-value foods and
pharmaceutical field, spray and freeze drying out
of various drying methods is widely used for high
quality products (Sheehan & Liapis, 1998; Ping et al.,
1999).
Freeze drying is the best method for the water
removal with final products of the highest quality
compared with other methods of food drying. Despite
many advantages, freeze drying has always been recog-
nised as the most expensive process for manufacturing a
dehydrated product. Also the porosity and surface area
of freeze-dried products are greater than those of
dehydrated products dried by other methods (King
et al., 2001; Ratti, 2001). This method might lead to an
increase of hygroscopicity due to the exposure of a large
surface area. Spray drying is a well-known process,
which is used to produce dry powders, granules, or

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2621.2005.01116.x
 2006 Institute of Food Science and Technology Trust Fund
2 Physico-chemical properties of protein bound polysaccharide J. H. Hong and Y. H. Choi
agglomerates from solutions and suspensions (Chawla
et al., 1994; Hirofumi et al., 1998). Recently, a number
of articles have been published describing the prepar-
ation of microspheres by such spray-drying methods
(Ping et al., 1999).
At this moment, there are few studies dealing with the
physico-chemical properties of protein-bound polysac-
charide (PBP) with a different molecular weight from
A. blazei Murill. The purpose of this work is to
investigate the various physico-chemical properties of
spray-dried powder of PBP with a different molecular
weight from A. blazei Murill using ultrafiltration and
spray-drying process.
Materials and methods
Isolation of the PBP from A. blazei Murill
Dried A. blazei Murill was obtained from the Sunglim
farm Inc., Kyungsan City, South Korea. It was ground
using laboratory mill until the average particle size was
about 500 lm (corresponding to 35 mesh) and distilled
water (20 L) was added to the powder (1 kg). The PBP
from A. blazei Murill was obtained by extraction with
pressured condition at 150 kPa for 2 h. After filtrating
to remove debris fragments, the filtrate was concentra-
ted in a rotary evaporator and then precipitated with
four volumes of 95% ethanol for 24 h at 4 C. The
precipitates were acquired after centrifugation and
dissolved in distilled water.
Preparation of the powders from protein PBP
The hollow fibre membrane (Sunkyong Inc., Suwon,
South Korea) used for the separation was made of
polysulfone material, which is composed of the pore size
with molecular weight cut off (MWCO) 10a and
150 kDa. The size and characteristics are shown in
Table 1. The membrane filtration system (BUS-200,
Sunkyong Inc.) was depicted in Fig. 1. As for the
processing conditions for the membranes, the operation
pressure was set to 0.8 and 2 kgf cm)2 in the MWCO 10
and 150 kDa at the feed temperature of 40 C, the feed
concentration of 5Brix, respectively. The three fractions
(below 10 kDa, 10–150 kDa and above 150 kDa) were
concentrated to 20Brix and spray drying (SD) was
Table 1 Specification of the membrane module used in this study
Unit SKUF10-106 SKUF01-106
Membrane i.d./o.d. mm U 0.8/1.4 0.5/0.8
Molecular weight cut off – 10 000 150 000
Membrane pore size lm – 0.01
Membrane area m2 0.13 0.16
Material – Polysulfone Polysulfone
International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2007, 42, 1–8
8 5 9
1
6 7
9
4 5
2 2
3
Figure 1 Schematic diagram of BUS-200 system for ultrafiltration: (1)
feed tank, (2) valve, (3) feed pump, (4) rotameter, (5) pressure gauge,
(6) membrane, (7) permeate, (8) retenate and (9) flowmeter.
performed using spray drier (B-191; Buchi Inc., Flawil,
Switzerland), with a standard 0.7 mm nozzle. When the
liquid was fed to the nozzle with a peristaltic pump,
atomisation occurred by the force of the compressed air,
disrupting the liquid into small droplets. The droplets,
together with hot air, were blown into a chamber where
the solvent in the droplets was evaporated and discharged
out through an exhaust tube. The dry products (below
10 kDa: SD-1, 10–150 kDa: SD-2, above 150 kDa: SD-
3) were then collected in a collection bottle.
Manufacturing parameters were studied by setting the
pump rate, compressed air flow and inlet temperature at
4, 8, 12 mL min)1, 10 L min)1 and 140, 170, 200 C,
respectively.
Sugar and protein contents
Total sugar content of the three spray-dried powders was
determined by the phenol-sulphuric acid method (Saha &
Brewer, 1994) using the prepared sample diluted with
distilled water by 25 times. Two millilitres of diluted
solution and 0.05 mL of 80% phenol solution were added
to screw cap tubes, which were capped and votex stirred.
Then 5 mL of concentrated sulphuric acid was added
to either directly against the liquid surface over 2 or 10 s,
or slowly down the side of the tube. The tubes were then
closed, votex stirred for 5 s and incubated for 30 min at
room temperature. Then, their absorbancies at 490 nm
were measured using distilled water as blank. Glucose
was used for the preparation of a calibration curve.
Total protein content was measured by the Lowry
method (Lowry et al., 1951). The protein biuret reaction
was carried out using reagent A containing 20 g of
sodium hydroxide, 100 g of sodium carbonate and 2 g
of seignette salt and 0.5 g of copper (II) sulphate
(pentahydrate) per 1000 mL in distilled water. One
millilitre of prepared assay sample and 1 mL of reagent
 2006 Institute of Food Science and Technology Trust Fund
 Physico-chemical properties of protein bound polysaccharide J. H. Hong and Y. H. Choi
A were mixed and allowed to stand for 10 min at room
temperature. Four millilitres of diluted folin reagent,
prepared by dilution of 0.5 mL of 1 n folin reagent with
4 mL of distilled water, was added to the mixture. The
solution was incubated for 5 min at 55 ± 1 C and
allowed to cool in bath of cold water for 30 min. The
solution absorbance was measured at 670 nm. The total
protein content of the three spray-dried powders was
calculated from a calibration curve prepared with
bovine serum albumin.
b-Glucan and uronic acid contents
b-Glucan content was determined according to a modi-
fication of the method of McCleary & Holmes (1985).
The three spray-dried powders were submitted with or
without a pretreatment with aqueous ethanol (50%, v/v)
solution, to a lichenase hydrolysis and further degraded
by b-glucosidase (Megazyme Int., Bray, Ireland). The
released free glucose was measured spectrophotometri-
cally at 510 nm against a blank necessary to subtract the
free glucose eventually present in the sample.
Lichenase acts at 40 C on mixed-links b(1–3)(1–4)
and the hydrolysis of the other links b(1–3), b(1–4), b(1–
6) is catalysed by b-glucosidase. The addition of b-
glucosidase was carried out after separating the solid
residue of lichenase action by filtration in order to avoid
any interference due to other beta-linked saccharides.
The amount of uronic acids was determined in the
solution of unhydrolysed polysaccharides using the
meta-hydroxy-diphenyl method with glucuronic acid as
the standard (Nelly & Gustav, 1973).
Analysis of particle size and moisture content
Particle size distribution of the spray-dried powders was
determined by a Malvern Master Sizer (Model MS 1002;
Malvern Inc., Worcestershire, UK) determining the
volume mean diameter and polydispersity. The moisture
content was determined by drying the powders in a hot
air-drying oven at 105 C for 6 h (AOAC, 1990).
Density of particles
Bulk densities of the spray-dried powders were meas-
ured by a Multi Tester, MT-1001 (Seishin Enterprise
Co., Ltd, Tokyo, Japan).
Aerated (loose) bulk density
The spray-dried powders were filled to overflowing into
a bulk density container. The overflow was levelled off
and the bulk density container was weighed.
Packed bulk density
The bulk density container was not emptied, and a
bottomless container was attached on the top. More
 2006 Institute of Food Science and Technology Trust Fund
3
samples were screened into the top container and the
two containers were clamped down and vertically
vibrated 180 times. After vibration, the top container
was removed. The overflow was levelled off and the bulk
density container was weighed.
Compressibility
The percentage of compressibility was:
PA
Compressibility ð%Þ ¼  100;
P
where P is the packed bulk density and A is the aerated
bulk density.
Angle of repose
The flowing property of the spray-dried powders was
evaluated by measuring angle of repose with a powder
pouring method. The height and diameter of the heaped
cone were measured from the projection image, then the
angle of repose was calculated.
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
The spray-dried powders were attached to SEM stubs
using a two-sided adhesive tape. Specimens were subse-
quently coated with gold and analysed using a scanning
electron microscope (S-4300; Hitachi, Tokyo, Japan).
Thermal analysis
The thermal stability of the spray-dried powders was
determined using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA;
TG/DTA320, Seiko Inc., Tokyo, Japan). The samples
were purged with the atmosphere of nitrogen. The heat
flow rate was recorded from 30 to 650 C, at a rate of
10 C min)1.
Results and discussion
Effect of manufacturing parameters on the characteristics
of the powders
The influence of preparation parameters on the particle
size and moisture content of spray-dried powders with
different molecular weight (below 10 kDa: SD-1, 10–
150 kDa: SD-2, above 150 kDa: SD-3) is shown in
Tables 2 and 3. The viscosity of feeding materials (three
fractions after ultrafiltration) for spray drying was 10.8,
11.9 and 20.1 cp, respectively. The average particle size
of powders prepared under the condition of a faster
pump rate was large, due to the fact that large droplets
were formed during the process. There was observed an
apparent increase in SD-1 from 48.75 to 115.63 lm
when the pump rate was increased from 4 to
12 mL min)1 at 140, 170 and 200 C, respectively. The
inlet temperature had less influence than pump rate on
International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2007, 42, 1–8
4 Physico-chemical properties of protein bound polysaccharide J. H. Hong and Y. H. Choi

Table 2 The influence of preparation parameters on the average particle size of powders prepared by spray-drying process (unit: lm)

Preparation SD-1a SD-2 SD-3

parameters:
Pump rate
(mL min)1): 4 8 12 4 8 12 4 8 12

Inlet temp. (C)

140 65.74 ± 1.5b 90.35 ± 1.5 115.63 ± 2.0 12.27 ± 0.5 15.15 ± 0.5 23.87 ± 1.5 14.21 ± 0.5 17.87 ± 0.5 20.59 ± 1.5
170 60.26 ± 1.5 79.43 ± 1.1 85.49 ± 2.3 8.67 ± 0.3 9.42 ± 0.5 9.67 ± 0.5 9.71 ± 0.5 10.42 ± 0.5 11.48 ± 0.5
200 48.75 ± 1.4 61.44 ± 1.2 78.63 ± 2.5 6.16 ± 0.4 7.59 ± 0.2 9.38 ± 0.4 8.56 ± 0.3 9.32 ± 0.4 10.13 ± 0.4

a
SD-1: below 10 kDa; SD-2: 10–150 kDa; SD-3: above 150 kDa.
b
Values are the mean of three replications.

Table 3 The influence of preparation parameters on the moisture content of powders prepared by spray-drying process (unit: %)

Preparation SD-1a SD-2 SD-3

parameters:
Pump rate
(mL min)1): 4 8 12 4 8 12 4 8 12

Inlet temp. (C)

140 14.77 ± 1.2b 17.36 ± 1.3 22.24 ± 1.2 11.25 ± 1.0 16.83 ± 1.2 19.65 ± 1.2 8.31 ± 0.5 14.17 ± 1.0 18.29 ± 1.2
170 9.45 ± 0.5 13.21 ± 1.0 14.83 ± 1.0 8.76 ± 0.4 10.12 ± 0.5 12.49 ± 1.0 4.23 ± 0.2 6.53 ± 0.2 9.51 ± 0.4
200 8.34 ± 0.4 9.82 ± 0.5 12.79 ± 0.5 6.25 ± 0.2 8.53 ± 0.5 9.77 ± 0.4 3.92 ± 0.1 5.54 ± 0.2 7.82 ± 0.2

a
SD-1: below 10 kDa; SD-2: 10–150 kDa; SD-3: above 150 kDa.
b
Values are the mean of three replications.

particle size. Liquid was disrupted into smaller droplets
at a higher inlet temperature.
When the temperature changed from 170 to 200 C,
particle size was slightly reduced. Spray drying is a
solvent evaporation process and the solvent in the
droplets is removed very quickly due to heat energy
provided in the spray-drier. The thermal efficiency of the
spray drying is related to the heat energy input and the
amount of heat used in the evaporation process (Mas-
ters, 1991). The optimum spray drying efficiency could
be achieved from a balance of the amount of energy
input and the amount of the energy needed, which is
related to the amount of sample input. As the boiling
point of water is 100 C at standard condition, the inlet
temperature used should be higher than this. Once the
inlet temperature was set below 140 C, or the pump
rate was chosen to be faster than 12 mL min)1, the
solvent in the droplets could be fully evaporated. It was
observed that some of the liquid droplets were attached
inside the wall of the main chamber. Also, the size of
powders formed was increased with increasing molecu-
lar weight, at the same polymer concentration, except
SD-1. SD-1 contains soluble materials with low molecu-
lar weight such as sugar and pigment.
Interactions between proteins and carbohydrates that
adversely affect particle size have been reported and
molecular weight (and size) of the carbohydrate influ-
enced on the protein–carbohydrate interactions (Sheu &
Rosenberg, 1995). The moisture content of powders was
increased with increasing pump rate and decreasing inlet
temperature. The moisture content of SD-1 ranged from
8.34% to 22.24% at 140 C and this was due to internal
cohesion between powder particles. The inlet tempera-
ture had more influence than pump rate on moisture
content. When the temperature was changed from 140
to 200 C, moisture content was rapidly reduced. As
expected, the manufacturing parameters (pump rate,
inlet temperature, molecular weight) affected the particle
size and moisture content of the resultant powders.
When thermal efficiency and powder stability was
concerned about particle size and moisture content,
the inlet temperature and pump rate was controlled at
200 C and 8 mL min)1, respectively. Physico-chemical
properties of the three spray-dried powders prepared by
selected conditions were investigated in different ways.
Chemical properties of three spray-dried powders
The amounts of sugar, protein, b-glucan, and uronic
acid of the three spray-dried powders with different
molecular weight are summarized in Table 4. The sugar
contents of SD-1, 2 and 3 were 39.25%, 67.05% and
73.94%, the protein contents were 15.33%, 11.95% and
8.5%, respectively. The dry matter of the fungal cell wall
consists mostly of polysaccharides (up to 80 wt %) and
proteins (from 3 to 20 wt %), and to a lesser extent of

International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2007, 42, 1–8  2006 Institute of Food Science and Technology Trust Fund
 Physico-chemical properties of protein bound polysaccharide J. H. Hong and Y. H. Choi 5

Table 4 The chemical properties of three spray-dried powders
Total Protein b-Glucan
Samples sugar (%) (%) (%)
SD-1a 39.25 ± 1.70b 15.33 ± 1.05 18.67 ± 1.19
SD-2 67.05 ± 2.12 11.95 ± 0.79 48.24 ± 2.06
SD-3 73.94 ± 2.55 8.5 ± 0.88 37.15 ± 1.75
a
SD-1: below 10 kDa; SD-2: 10–150 kDa; SD-3: above 150 kDa.
b
Values are the mean of three replications.
fat, minerals and pigments (Vlasta et al., 2001). In order
words, the major part of the sugar content is located in
the cell wall, whereas the proteins are distributed more
or less evenly inside and outside of the cells.
The contents of b-glucan was observed 18.67% in SD-
1, 48.24% in SD-2, and 37.15% in SD-3. The uronic
acid contents of SD-1, 2 and 3 were 16.01, 34.22 and
30.33 lm mg)1, respectively. Especially, the b-glucan
and uronic acid content of SD-2 was higher than SD-1
and SD-3. It is considered that SD-1 was thought to
contain many low molecular impurities such as pigment
and monosaccharides, and SD-3 contained many insol-
uble dietary fibre. Extraction method of the dried
fruiting bodies is very important in the composition of
compounds (Mizuno et al., 1990). Most of the b-glucans
have also been shown to possess antitumor activities.
Physical properties of three spray-dried powders
Table 5 shows the aerated bulk density, the packed bulk
density, the compressibility and angle of repose of the
three spray-dried powders. As could be expected, the
more moist or cohesive powders showed lower density.
This was a result of the formation of an open bed
structure that was supported by interparticle forces and
liquid bridges. The liquid bridge is related to factors
such as powder moisture, fat content and shape of
particles (Scoville & Peleg, 1981). Bulk properties of
powders are related to their physical properties and
largely influenced by powder particle size, chemical
properties, and bridging potential (Konstance et al.,
1995). The relative relationship of compressibility of all
powders was compared as a function of aerated bulk
Table 5 The physical properties of the three spray-dried powders
Physical property SD-1a SD-2
density. Lowest aerated bulk density was indicative of
cohesive powder with high moisture. SD-1 when com-
Uronic
pared with other powders had the smallest aerated bulk
acid (lm mg)1)
density and the largest compressibility. However, SD-2
16.01 ± 0.48 was characterised by the largest aerated bulk density
34.22 ± 1.33 and the smallest compressibility. The measurement of
30.33 ± 1.26 the static angle of repose, the angle formed by a heap of
powder with a horizontal base, is a relatively simple
method to characterise flowability. Generally, powders
exhibiting repose angles £40 are free flowing whereas
angles >50 indicate potential flow problems (Peleg,
1977).
The angle of repose of SD-2 and SD-3 particles was
lower than that of SD-1. The magnitude of this angle
was influenced by frictions and interparticle forces. Flow
dynamics were affected by particle density, bulk density,
particle shape and size as well as composition.
Morphology
The morphology of three powders prepared by spray-
drying process was examined by SEM. As shown in
Fig. 2, the outer topology of SD-1 had a more or less
spherical shape, but surfaces of SD-2 and 3 had many
indentations.
Particles containing high proportions of carbohy-
drates were associated with a very high extent of surface
indentations. Surface indentation was more prevalent in
small particles than in larger ones. Smaller particles
exhibited deep surface dents indicating solidification of
the walls prior to onset of expansion. This could be
attributed to effects of drying rate. High drying rates,
associated with small particles, usually lead to rapid wall
solidification and thus dent smoothing cannot occur
(Rosenberg et al., 1985). It has been suggested that dent
formation is related to uneven shrinkage of the drying
droplets during early stages of drying (Keith, 1983;
Rosenberg et al., 1988). The formation of surface
indentations in spray-dried particles has been attributed
to effects of wall composition, atomisation and drying
parameters, uneven shrinkage at early stages of drying
and surface tension-driven viscous flow (Sheu &
Rosenberg, 1998).
The results suggested that the molecular weight of the
powder and probably differences in the viscoelastic
properties of the three PBPs with different molecular
SD-3 weight had notable effects on surface dents.

Aerated bulk 0.1893 ± 0.004b 0.2772 ± 0.005 0.2643 ± 0.004

density (g cm)3) Thermal degradation
Packed bulk 0.3306 ± 0.008 0.4311 ± 0.006 0.4183 ± 0.006 Thermogravimetric analysis and derivative thermogra-
density (g cm)3)
vimetry (DTG) are used to show how water evaporates
Compressibility (%) 42.74 35.7 36.82
Angle of repose () 48 ± 1 39 ± 1 38 ± 1
from a system or to show the mechanism by which a
material loses weight as a result of controlled heating.
a
SD-1: below 10 kDa; SD-2: 10–150 kDa; SD-3: above 150 kDa. The TGA and DTG curves for three spray-dried
b
Values are the mean of three replications. powders with different molecular weight are shown in

 2006 Institute of Food Science and Technology Trust Fund International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2007, 42, 1–8
6 Physico-chemical properties of protein bound polysaccharide J. H. Hong and Y. H. Choi

(a)
100

80
SD-1
TGA

Weight loss (%)

60

40 DTG

20

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Temperature (°C)

(b) 100

80
SD-2

Weight loss (%)

60 TGA

DTG
40

20

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Temperature (°C)

(c) 100

SD-3
80
TGA
Weight loss (%)

60

DTG
40

20

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

Temperature (°C)

Figure 3 Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and derivative thermo-

Figure 2 Scanning electron microscopy of spray-dried powders. (a)
SD-1: below 10 kDa, (b) SD-2: 10–150 kDa, (c) SD-3: above 150 kDa.
Fig. 3. The decomposition stages, temperature ranges,
and estimated weight loss of three spray-dried powders
are presented in Table 6. The thermal decomposition
take place in several steps due to the formation of
complexes with different molar ratio and consequently
with different thermal stability (Marcia et al., 2001). The
gravimetry (DTG) curves of the spray-dried powders. (a) SD-1: below
10 kDa, (b) SD-2: 10 kDa–150 kDa, (c) SD-3: above 150 kDa.
decomposition reactions (TGA/DTG curves) suggest
five, four and five mass-loss stages for SD-1, SD-2 and
SD-3, respectively. But we found that the thermal
degradation patterns of the three spray-dried powders
are similar in each case and roughly classify into three
groups. As observed in Table 6 for the decomposition
stage, the percentages of weight loss are grouping with
three stages. The first stage of thermal decomposition

International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2007, 42, 1–8  2006 Institute of Food Science and Technology Trust Fund

Table 6 Thermogravimetric results considering the thermogravimetric
analysis (TGA) curves at 10 C min)1, for the three spray-dried
powders
TGA (temperature
Samples Stage range, °C)
SD-1a 1 30–115
2 115–218
3 218–385
4 385–471
5 471–650
Total weight loss(%)
SD-2 1 30–117
2 117–212
3 212–388
4 388–650
Total weight loss(%)
SD-3 1 30–110
2 110–214
3 214–387
4 387–473
5 473–650
Total weight loss(%)
DTG, derivative thermogravimetry.
a from the basidiomycete, Agaricus blasei Murill, mediated via natural
SD-1: below 10 kDa; SD-2: 10–150 kDa; SD-3: above 150 kDa.
for the three spray-dried powders was related to the
dehydration at the temperature range of 30–117 C,
with 3.5–8.1% of water weight loss.
The second stage, at temperature range of 212–
388 C, was related to the decomposition of three
spray-dried powders structure, and approximately
weight losses of 47.8%, 53.5% and 55.2% were observed
with the formation of a char. The last stage
(T > 390 C) was a relatively slow thermal degradation
of the char, and weight losses of 25.9%, 11.4% and
27.8% were analysed, indicating that residual masses of
16.5%, 17.8% and 9.8% in the SD-1, SD-2 and SD-3
samples remained. In the last stage, the char yield
seemed to increase when the thermal stability decreased.
The weight loss profile can show if there is a difference in
the behaviour of the components of the material
(Abdellatif & Patricia, 2003). The thermal behavior is
strongly dependent on the sample preparation and trace
amounts of impurities (Francesco et al., 2000). The
decomposition temperature for the three spray-dried
powders was in the range of 200–400 C and showed
relatively good enough for their thermal stabilities.
Conclusions
Ultrafiltration and spray-drying process could be a
feasible technology with practical uses in the intermedi-
ate material industry for various products. The manu-
facturing parameters (pump rate, inlet temperature,
molecular weight) affected the particle size and moisture
content of the resultant powders. Especially, the b-
 2006 Institute of Food Science and Technology Trust Fund
Physico-chemical properties of protein bound polysaccharide J. H. Hong and Y. H. Choi 7
glucan content of SD-2 was higher than SD-1 and SD-3.
Physical properties of the powders are affected by
particle density, bulk density, particle shape and size
Weight
as well as composition.
DTG (°C) loss (%)
Thermal stability of the three spray-dried powders
was relatively good enough and development for various
48 3.5 products is expected. Further studies are needed to
165 6.3 clarify the functional characteristics of the powders
271 47.8 prepared with different molecular weight.
442 14.3
518 11.6
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