Comparative Evaluation of the Physico-Chemical Characterization of Native and Modified Starches from Jackfruit, Corn and Cassava as Potential Additives in Drilling Fluid

The physicochemical properties of starches determine their industrial application, and modification have shown further improvement on the properties of starch. Hence, the physicochemical properties of modified starches obtained from jackfruit were analyzed and compared with native jackfruit (JF), corn (MN) and cassava (CN) starches to determine their usability as additives in drilling fluid formulation. Starch from jackfruit pulp was chemically modified with two carboxymethylation methods (JC1 & JC2) and acetylation method (JA). The physicochemical properties were assessed using Scanning Electron Microscopy, Differential Scanning Calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Thermogravimetric analysis to determine their effectiveness to improve JF properties. The results revealed that at 90 °C, JC2 was found to have the highest swelling power and water holding capacity when compared with other modified and native starches. The result of the thermal properties of the starches showed that JC2 produced better thermal properties with the peak gelatinization temperature in the decreasing trend JC2>JC1>JF>MN>JA>CN. The SEM result showed that modification reduced the particle size of the starches thereby increasing the surface area of the starches for better reactivity than the native jackfruit, corn and cassava starches. The thermal stability of the starches showed that modification by carboxymethylation (JC1 and JC2) improved the stability of the starches while the reverse was the case for JA. In comparison with corn and cassava, the modified starches JC1 and JC2, performed excellently in all the properties analyzed. The possession of the highest swelling power, highest water holding capacity, highest thermal stability and excellent gelatinization temperature of 90 ℃ (Tp) places JC2 above other modification methods thereby making it a potential replacement for corn and cassava as an additive in drilling fluid formulation.