Abstract
The viscosity of Single Cell Protein (SCP) prepared from commercial baker's yeast and the potentiality for forming a continuous and uniform filament were studied. Several kinds of additives were added to the SCP at various levels to investigate their effects on flow behavior and spinnability. Tensile strength of the resultant filaments was measured.
Under the experimental conditions in this study, the addition of 1 to 3% of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) or carrageenan was useful to improve the spinnability and strechability of SCP with an increase in apparent viscosity. This increase in apparent viscosity might reflect an increase in the intermolecular bonding resulting from the addition of these hydrocolloids. However at the higher levels of addition, samples failed to yield filament. This failure is perhaps mainly due to the mechanical aspect of the viscosity rather than the chemical nature of the mixtures. At the same concentration, CMC was found to be a more desirable additive than carrageenan, for making SCP filament.
On the other hand, the addition of more than 5% of casein was needed to obtain the similar results as SCP/CMC filament for SCP/casein mixtures and with increasing addition, the strechability and tensile strength of the filaments were improved.
