Kuakoon Piyachomkwan

National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC)National Science and Tecnology Development Agency (NSTDA), Thailand

World Tapioca Conference 2018

28 June, 2018

CentaraGrand at Central Plaza Ladprao, Bangkok, Thailand

Future prospects of Thai Tapioca

- 2nd world root production after Nigeria

- Total root production of 30 million tons annually

(10% of world production)

- 1st producer and exporter of tapioca-derived products

- Generate upto 1,400 million USD revenue of exported products

Thai tapioca industry

- Total planting area = 8.3 Million Rai

or 1.4 Million hectare

- Mostly grown in North eastern, eastern part

- Root productivity = 4.7 tons /Rai

or 25-30 tons / hectare

(World average = 12 tons / hectare)

Tapioca production in Thailand

Tapioca is a cash crop of Thai farmers

- Drought tolerance

- Easy to grow with low inputs

- All year round planting/harvesting

- High yield-improved varieties

- High root productivity

- Roots with high quantity/quality of starch

Excellent agronomic characteristics

Beyond the farmer’s cash crop, tapioca is an industrial crop

- Chips

- Pellet

- Starches: Native & Modified starch

: Sweetener/ hydrolyzed products

- Bioethanol

Major tapioca products

Tapioca starch

Modified starch

Tapioca pearl Pregelatinized starch

Acid thinned starch

Dextrinized starch

Oxidized starch

Crosslinked starchDi-starch phosphateDi-starch adipate

Starch etherHydroxyalkyl/Cationic starch

Starch esterAcetylated starchPhosphate monoester starch

Native starchStarch hydrolysate

Maltodextrin

Sweeteners Glucose, DextroseFructose

Sugar alcoholsSorbitol/Mannitol

Amino acidsMSGLysine

Organic acid Citric acid Lactic acid

AlcoholsEthanol

Industrialapplications

Noodles

SaucesCosmetics

Uses of modified tapioca starches in food and non-food applications

Future prospects of Thai Tapioca

- Health food products

Gluten-free products

Clean label products (non-GMO, non-chemically food modified starch)

Low glycemic food products

- Biomaterials

Drug delivery system

Wound healing/ Tissue engineering scaffolds/ implants

Future prospects of Thai Tapioca

- Use as staple foods in many countries in various forms

- Mostly produced from sweet type: low cyanide content at the household level

- According to FAO Codex, cyanide content of flour < 10 mg HCN equivalent.kg-1

Cassava flour: a choice for gluten-free products

Household production of cassava flour

- Use as staple foods in many countries

- Mostly produced from sweet type, i.e. low cyanide varieties of cassava

- Produced at a cottage scale manually

Flour with cyanide < 10

mg HCN quivalent.kg-1

(FAO/WHO)

Bitter type of

cassava varieties

+

Large scale

production

mechanized

process - Wheat flour substitute

- Gluten free product

Cassava flour: a choice for gluten-free products

- Wheat flour substitute (high volume market)

Bakery, snack

Can replace upto 100% in some products

- Gluten free product (high value market)

Application

Mechanized process of making

low-cyanide cassava flour

- Technology transfer to private sector

- Market development with technical approach

(collaboratively with private sector )

Wheat flour bread Gluten-free bread

Fresh roots

Sand & soil removal

Washing

Crushing & rasping

Drying

Milling & sieving

Cassava flour

Tapioca flour for gluten-free products

- Gluten is wheat flour protein, also found in barley, rye and triticale

- Some people cannot eat gluten because it will damage their small intestine, called celiac disease.

- At least 1% of total population have celiac disease with a rapid increase in the number of people having celiac disease.

- No cure, only strict adherence to a GLUTEN-FREE DIET

- The market of gluten-free diet has continuously increased and expected to exceed more than 5 billion USD by 2015.

- Bread, cookie, cracker, pasta, cereal

Gliadin(viscous)

+

Glutenin(elastic)

Gluten(viscoelastic)

UNLESS LABELED “GLUTEN -FREE”

Amaranth

Arrowroot

Bean

Buckwheat

Corn

Millet

Potato

Quinoa

Rice

Sorghum

Tapioca / Cassava

Teff

http://savaflour.com/

Tapioca starch-based hydrogel

Most commercial hydrogels are from synthetic polymers

Petroleum-based resources

Non-biodegradable

May contain toxic residues

Hydrogels from bio-polymers

solution

Starch-based hydrogels

Applications: agricultural, biomedical, food packaging and personal hygiene products

Starch-based hydrogel as a superdisintegrant in tabl ets

Product performancePictures of paracetamol tablets containing 2% of dif ferent disintegrants after being in de-ionized water at various time

Disintegration time of paracetamol tablets(with 2% of different disintegrants)

Starch-based hydrogel

Commercial

Native cassava starch

0 sec 15 sec 30 sec 45 sec 60 sec 0

100

200

300

400

500

pH 1.2 pH 6.8Dis

inte

gra

tio

n t

ime

[se

c]

Native starch Commercial

0

20

40

60

80

100

0 5 10 15

% D

rug

dis

solv

ed

Time [min]

Dissolution of paracetamol tablets(with 2% of different disintegrants)

a) pH 1.2

b) pH 6.8

0

20

40

60

80

100

0 5 10 15

%D

rug

dis

solv

ed

Time [min]

Native starch Commercial Starch-based hydrogel

Tapioca starch Chemical

modification

Gel consistency

Modified tapioca starch gel

Carbomer (commercial)

Starch-based hydrogel as a gelling agent in pharmaceutical and cosmetic products

Modified tapioca starch

Water absorption

Thailand 4.0: New Economy

Bioeconomy...Create the new wave of growth and sustainability of agricultural value chain

Bioeconomy is the next generation of agricultural based economy

SOURCE: Global Insight - Thailand real GDP forecast, team analysis

23| 23232323

Bioeconomy value chain provides integration of sever al sectors

Feedstock Industries

Biochemical Industries & SMEs

ConsumerIndustries

Agriculture

Seeds

$

$$

$$$$

$$$

Value

Value-chain

Seed

Corn

Oil Palm

Plant-Biomass

Ligno-cellulose

Starch

FattyAcids

SyngasCO, CO2, H2

Sugar

Succinate

Ethanol2,3 BDO

AminoAcid

Isoprene

1,4-Butandiol

L-tert Leucine

Sphingosine

Polyisoprene

Polyester

Pharma Active

Protein

DermatologyActive

Tire

Rubber

PlasticBottle

Energy

Adhesive

Pharma-ceuticals

Cosmetics

SOURCE: © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd | Biofuels, Bioprod. Bioref. 6:240–245 (2012); DOI: 10.1002

SOURCE: Office of Agricultural Economics, MOAC

Upstream DownstreamMidstream

No. 1 exporter

Current status

No. 1 exporter

No. 2 expoerter

299

Value1

(x1000 MBaht)

64

122

Rice

Cassava

1 Estimated from plantation area multiplied by revenue per area

Mainly exist LimitedFairly exist

Paddy Milled rice

Rice husk

Rice bran

Rice flourNoodle, pastaSnackPowder

Rice bran oil

Potablealcohol

Functional food

Feed ingredients

Gluten-free flour

Fresh roots Starch

DextrinEthanol Lactic acid

Beverage

Chemicals

Bioplastics Cosmetics

Medicine

Sugar Molasses Biopolymers (PLA / PBS)

Succinic acidLactic acid Fuel/ energy

Chips/ Pellets

Sugarcane Bagasse Ethanol

Agricul-

tural

based

economy

Rice Cassava

SugarcaneRubberOther crops

ผลผลิตทางการเกษตร

� Fermentation� Enzymatic conversion� Consolidated

bioprocessing biocatalyst

Bio-Conversion

� Organic synthesis

� Thermocatalysis

Chemical /Thermal

Conversion andmodification

Downstream Process

separation

extraction

purification

Application

Fuel/energy

Healthcare Pharmaceutical

s

Food

Feed

Nutraceuticalscosmetics

Pretreatment/Fractionation

Raw materials Conversion

� Physical treatment

High

Low

Value

Bulk Chemicals

วัสดุเหลือทิ้งทางการเกษตร

concentration

drying

formulation

encapsulation

• Torrefaction• Stream

Explosion• Acid/Alkalinity• Liquid Hot

Water• CO2

Explosion• Organosolv

Future prospects of Thai Tapioca: Biorefinery

Hydrolysis / Fermentation

Distillation Dehydration Anhydrous ethanol Gasohol

Production process of bioethanol for fuel use

Gasoline

CONCLUSIONS

- Tapioca serves not only as a staple food in many regions, it also serves as an important raw material for food, non-food and bio-based industry.

- To meet an increasing demand of tapioca for industry use, the sustainable production of tapioca roots with increasing farmer’s income must be achieved by improving root productivity, lower production cost, e.g. soil conservation, farm mechanization.

- As health and wellness continues to influence consumer and market trends, there is a great opportunities for developing health products from tapioca starch (non-GMO, non-chemically, non-gluten, low GI food) as well as biodegradable materials for biomedical uses.

- Tapioca can be one of the potential feedstock to serve Thai Bioeconomy.

Thank you for your attention

kuakoon@biotec.or.th