Cellulosic fiber gels prepared from cell walls of maize hulls

Cellulosic fiber gel substances were prepared from maize hulls by chemicall y and physically treating the pericarp cell-wall substrate in a multistage process to disintegrate morphological cellular structure. Thermal alkaline degradation was used with impact shear in the first stage, followed by alka line peroxidation and shear in the second stage. The degradation products w ere removed in the liquid supernatants at each stage. The maize fiber gels are characterized by high viscosities and hydration capacities. After dryin g, they can be reconstituted to the original gel form by using shear forces . The fiber gels were also dried together with hydrophilic materials to mor e easily reconstitute the gel form. The alkaline-extracted hemicellulose ef fluents from the fiber gel preparation, including the second stage peroxidi zed extract, were purified and used as hydrophilic material. Oat flour hydr olyzate, an amylodextrin, also was used as a hydrophilic material. The phys ical properties of the gels were characterized by scanning electron microsc opy and rheological evaluations.