Despite several works in the literature that approach modifications of starch to obtain hydrophobic characteristics, few studies have the objective of understanding and modeling the mechanisms of water absorption in starch. This paper aims to determine the parameters of a model based on mass balance to represent the process of native cassava starch hydration. For that purpose, experimental data on the hydration of natural starch subject to different temperatures are collected. Next, a semi‐empirical model obtained by the differential balance of the amount of hot water in the sample is adjusted for each temperature, and model parameters are studied. Results reveal that the mass transfer constant of the model does not suffer from a significant influence of temperature on hydration. However, the equilibrium moisture content is affected by this temperature. Through this study, it is concluded that: i) the hydration of natural starch profile has a logarithmic behavior over time, and ii) the correlation that best describes the behavior of equilibrium moisture content is linear. Results allow the construction of a generalized model for the range of studied temperatures. Finally, it is suggested the replication of the methodology applied in this paper to analyze other starch modifications.

中文翻译：

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碳水化合物聚合物传质的半经验模型：以木薯淀粉在热水介质中的水化动力学为例

尽管在文献中有几项研究方法是对淀粉进行改性以获得疏水特性，但很少有研究旨在了解和模拟淀粉中的吸水机理。本文旨在基于质量平衡确定模型参数，以代表天然木薯淀粉水合过程。为此，收集关于天然淀粉在不同温度下水合的实验数据。接下来，针对每个温度调整通过样品中热水量的微分平衡获得的半经验模型，并研究模型参数。结果表明，模型的传质常数不受温度对水合作用的显着影响。然而，平衡水分含量受该温度影响。通过这项研究得出的结论是：i）天然淀粉的水合度随时间呈对数关系，并且ii）最能描述平衡水分含量的关系是线性的。结果可以为研究温度范围构建通用模型。最后，建议复制本文中用于分析其他淀粉修饰的方法。