Kappa Carrageenan Complete Information and Production
August 25, 2017
There must be some of you who want to have
more information on kappa carrageenan
as this name sound unfamiliar in our ears. However, this substance is actually
very familiar on many industries since there are many products which use this
substance as one of the carrageenan. The reason is because the carrageenan
itself has the ability to thicken, stabilize, and gelling other things that mix
with them. Thus many industries use those abilities to ensure the product that
they create has great appearance as it should be. The products that are created
using this substance are varied from food product to personal care product.
Learn more about kappa carrageenan production method
The kappa
carrageenan is actually a type of carrageenan which created from Kappaphycus
alvarezii that is a species of red seaweed used to create this substance. This type
of carrageenan can create rigid and stronger gelling when there is potassium
ion. That is why diary protein can react well with this type of carrageenan. Furthermore
this type of carrageenan also only has a sulphate group for every disaccharide.
This substance is also only soluble using water in hot temperature.
The usage of this type of carrageenan is
usually as food additive inside food product or thickening agent on personal
care product, and many others. Since the type of carrageenan is created from
kappa species of red seaweed which is a species of plant grows under the sea
water thus it is considered as vegan and vegetarian. That is the reason this
substance is often used to replace gelatin which derived from animal when
creating confectionery for vegan and vegetarian consumption.
The kappa carrageenan itself can grow until 2 meters in height, then the colors
that this red seaweed has usually green or even yellow. Furthermore this
species has fast growing ability, and usually the plant already grows twice as
much only within 15 days. This is why, this kappa species of red seaweed can
easily be farm since it is fast growing thus it can be harvest when the weight
of the plant already reach 1 kg. Then it will take only three other months
until next harvesting time.
The farming process itself is very is quite
easy since the farmer will use nylon material to create the growing line. Then
the line will be hung on the stick which float on the surface and created using
bamboo as the material. Usually the line will have around 2 meters depth to
match with the plant height. When the plant already has suitable weight, then
it can be harvest easily with this setting.
After the kappa
carrageenan is harvest by the farmer, and then it will be dried under
the sun to remove the water content inside. Thus it is ready to be send into
the factory which will process and make the substance.
Upon arrival the dried kappa species of red
seaweed will be grind for easier process. Next is to sift the material to
remove any sand that mixed inside. Then it is time to wash it so no other
impurities that might mix inside.
To make the kappa
carrageenan then the washed material will be soaked and heat inside 5 to
8% amount of alkali liquid. Usually the liquid used to make it is the Potassium
hydroxide which able to increase the gelling properties that the substance has
since the chemical reaction already been changed using this process. Furthermore
the process itself can remove some of the sulphate inside the molecules of the
material. The best thing is, this process can create more 3,6 anhydrogalactose
formed inside the molecules. This formation is able to strengthen the gelling
properties.
From this heating process, there will be carrageenan
created along with several celluloses content which actually unwanted. To
remove that unwanted content, then centrifugation as well as filtration
procedure is done. After that mechanical procedure, then evaporation is the
next process done to get only the carrageenan substance. Then the substance
will be dried then it will be ground to make it into powder form which you will
see in the market.
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