Today’s industry faces a different challenge than it did decades ago: how to engineer materials that meet technical requirements while reducing dependence on fossil-based feedstocks. As conventional plastics are gradually being phased down, increasing attention is being given to renewable raw materials that can serve as the basis for modern alternatives.
One of the most promising is potato starch, known primarily from the food industry, but increasingly used as a base for polymer materials and bioplastics. This direction, plant-based feedstocks as a foundation for material technologies, is a key area of interest for Helvicon.
Production
Industrial potato starch production is based on the mechanical disintegration of tubers, separation of fibers and proteins, and the isolation of the starch suspension. This process makes it possible to obtain pure starch in the form of a fine powder without the need for chemical reagents. This matters both for the environmental profile of the production process itself and for subsequent use in starch-based plastics technologies, especially in the approach promoted by Helvicon, where the focus is not only on material performance, but also on the overall logic and efficiency of the full process.
Properties relevant to plastics
Starch consists of granules containing two polysaccharide fractions: amylose, which has a linear structure, and amylopectin, which has a branched structure. The ratio of these fractions depends on the botanical origin of the starch. Common starches such as corn, rice, wheat, and potato starch typically contain 20 to 30% amylose and 70 to 80% amylopectin.
A relatively high amylose content supports the formation of stronger polymer structures. Other relevant properties include the ability to swell in water, partial solubility after gelatinization, and the chemical reactivity of hydroxyl groups. Amylopectin forms rigid crystalline regions, which can hinder efficient and easy thermoforming of starch. For this reason, an important step is the conversion of crystalline regions into amorphous ones. In development projects such as those carried out by Helvicon, this is one of the key areas of optimization.
Why potato starch?
From a materials perspective, potato starch is an attractive feedstock for several reasons. It is readily available in Europe, potato cultivation in this climate delivers high yields, and the environmental profile of the feedstock can be favorable, especially when the starch is sourced from industrial potatoes that do not directly compete with food applications.
In addition, the large granule size of potato starch and its high purity, resulting from a lower content of secondary substances such as proteins and fats, make it easier to process in polymer technologies. From Helvicon’s perspective, as a company operating at the intersection of renewable feedstocks and materials engineering, these characteristics have practical importance because they simplify the path from raw material to a stable, repeatable material.
Comparisonwith other starches
The amylose-to-amylopectin ratio depends on the origin of the starch. Amylose content is approximately as follows: potato 21%, corn 28%, waxy corn 3%, wheat 28%, tapioca 17%.
Compared with corn or wheat starch, potato starch has larger granules and a lower gelatinization temperature. Corn starch, although more widely available globally, often requires more extensive modification to achieve the desired material properties. Wheat starch, in turn, contains more protein, which can affect material uniformity and make thermal processing more difficult. From a materials application perspective, potato starch can therefore be a preferred feedstock, and this is one of the reasons why, in Helvicon’s approach, it is treated as an important basis for the development of advanced bioplastics.
Starch modification for plastics
Native starch is not thermoplastic. To enable it to function as a polymer material suitable for thermoforming, chemical modifications such as esterification, physical modifications such as plasticization, and blends with other biopolymers such as polylactic acid (PLA) or polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) are used. This approach makes it possible to obtain materials with greater mechanical strength and improved durability under humid conditions, which meaningfully expands their application potential.
Potential applications for starch-based materials include packaging, films, insulation materials, construction materials, adhesives, as well as matrices for medical and cosmetic applications. For Helvicon, this is particularly important because it shows that potato starch is not an “eco-curiosity,” but a real feedstock for building advanced material solutions, from prototype to industrial scale.
Prof. Mariusz Mamiński, PhD, DSc
Warsaw University of Life Sciences
Department of Technology and Entrepreneurship in the Wood Industry
Aleja Wojska Polskiego 32E,
77-300 Człuchów
