Abstract
Starch has many applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Finger millet is an underutilized cereal crop and a potentially viable source of starch. The conventional methods of starch isolation result in contamination and starch degradation. Developing a better process with improved starch quality is essential. Ultrasound-assisted isolation was optimized for ultrasound treatment time, power density, and solid-to-solvent ratio with the best desirability function for various dependent parameters. The optimum power density (0.07 W/cm(3)), treatment time (15 min), and flour to solvent ratio (1:6) increased the yield and purity to 61% and 88%, respectively. The finger millet starch yield of ultrasound-assisted isolation was higher than distilled water, alkaline, and sodium bisulfite soaking methods by 35%, 12%, and 26%, respectively. The other functional parameters of starch, such as water solubility and water-binding capacity, also improved during ultrasonication. The ultrasound-assisted isolation could be adopted for bulk processing of finger millet for starch production. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13197-024-06102-0.