Xylan as by-product of biorefineries: Characteristics and potential use for food applications

The conversion or biorefinery of renewable resources gives three main components: cellulose, lignin and hemicelluloses. Xylans are part of the hemicelluloses fraction and of a certain use in nutrition, food technology, new materials and biotechnology. The functionality is based on certain xylan characteristics giving the polysaccharide unique hydrophilic as well as hydrophobic interaction capacities. The rheology of xylan systems indicates that the properties for some conformations of this xylose based macromolecule depend also on associated water clusters or the integration of water molecules. Several applications for the use of the functionality of the hydrocolloid are presented.