Effects of Maltodextrin Powder Addition on the Rheological and Thermal Properties of Molasses

Molasses is a highly viscous liquid that causes difficulty in transportation and other applications. Conversion of molasses into free-flowing powder can be an economic way to resolve this challenge and broaden its end-use. Maltodextrin is typically used as an effective carrier for drying of viscous liquid. The objective of this study was to investigate the rheological properties of molasses as affected by the addition of maltodextrin (DE 12) powder at various levels (10–40% w/w). The apparent viscosity and dynamic moduli of both pure molasses and molasses–maltodextrin mixtures were characterized and modeled using power law at various temperatures. In general, the results showed that the addition of maltodextrin significantly increased the viscosity, storage modulus and loss modulus of the molasses, as well as the activation energy derived from viscosity versus temperature curves. The addition of maltodextrin increased glass transition temperature (T_g) of the mixture solid. Such results are useful for further investigations on the direct mixing method using maltodextrin as an aid for the manufacturing process of dried molasses.