What is High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) used for?

High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) can be used as an alternative for starch and other imported materials such as wheat flour in a variety of industries in many countries in Africa.

Potential HQCF markets in Malawi 2010Market demand and commercial partners have been identified in various industrial sectors (plywood, paperboard, bakery, confectionary and industrial and potable alcohol) which rely on expensive imported raw materials. A locally produced cassava-based alternative has the potential to substitute for the imported material (import substitution) and create a market for the farmer's cassava.

High Quality Cassava Flour

 Potential HQCF markets in Africa

Uses of HQCF include raw material for the production of glucose syrups, industrial alcohol and bakery products, the production of adhesives, as an extender for plywood glues and as a source of starch in textile sizing. Specifically;

•   Bakery products - HQCF was used at levels of 10-35% in bakery products; popular in rural areas where consumers preferred the heavy cake like texture;

•   Glucose syrups – A controlled process was developed for conversion of HQCF into sugar syrups with a range of dextrose equivalents to meet different end-user requirements using enzymes from plant seedlings;

•   Industrial and potable alcohol – A system was developed for conversion of sugar syrup into ethyl alcohol for industrial or potable use;

•   Adhesives - HQCF blended with soluble borax and caustic soda to produce Bauer type paperboard adhesive that could completely replace imported starch based materials. HQCF was used for complete substitution of wheat flour as an extender in urea and phenol formaldehyde resin plywood adhesive.