Editor | On 04, Sep 2018

Doua P., Kapseu C.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to find how to eliminate all the cyanogenic glucosides from bitter cassava roots to make them palatable for humans and animals. Prior to the elimination of those substances, cassava cell walls should be disrupted to promote the production of hydrocyanic acid. The TRIZ Contradiction matrix was used to state and solve that bitter cassava root detoxification problem. A technical contradiction was defined with “amount of substance” as feature to improve and “strength” as feature that gets worse. Build using the Inventive Principles N° 10, 14, 34 and 35, the general solution states as follows: « Transform the physical state of a bitter cassava root, dry it then collect hydrocyanic acid and water as by-products. » A bitter cassava root shaped in the form of a frustum of cone was divided into n frustum of cones of 1 mm thick. Three samples of that cassava root were set to dry at 30°C for an hour. Their initial hydrocyanic content diminished from 73.45, 75.23 and 71.66 to 3.41, 2.74 and 2.25 mg/kg of dry cassava root respectively. All the final values of the hydrocyanic acid content of the samples were below 10 mg/kg, the maximum admissible content, recommended by the FAO/WHO (1991).

 

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