Exposure of granular starches to low-pressure glow ethylene plasma

Polymerization of ethylene was initiated by low-pressure glow plasma generated in this gas. Depending on starch present in this plasma polymerization could be considered either as graft-polymerization of ethylene onto starch or homopolymerization. Result of the treatment of cassava, corn, potato, rice Indica, sweet potato, and waxy corn starches with ethylene plasma was analyzed by means of high-performance size exclusion chromatography, X-ray powder diffraction, thermogravimetry, digestion with β-amylase, and scanning electron microscopy. Analyses suggested that graft-polymerization occurred on sweet potato and rice starch. With other starches homopolymerization of ethylene on granules took place.