Laboratory extruder RES-2PN 2x20mm-Food

Laboratory twin-screw extruders for food extrusion RES-2PN 2x20mm-Food.

Laboratory food extruders are small versions of production extruders. However, there are many differences between laboratory and production extruders. Laboratory food extruders are more extensively equipped with functions that allow testing many food ingredients, which makes them very versatile devices. They have functionalities that facilitate and accelerate the food testing process. Laboratory food extruders are equipped with a rich a set of precise measuring sensors.

• Laboratory food extruders are ideal for short delivery and response times for small volume food product batches or pilot trials. They can be adapted to all food extrusion applications.

• The extruder is equipped with two screws with a diameter of 20 mm and a length of 25D or 40D.

• They are designed to enable the efficient development of new food products and the testing of new extrusion processes - this can be critical for a manufacturing company or research labs. Laboratory extruders can be used to reduce the time to market of new food products.

• Laboratory food extruders can be used to test new food ingredients. Different formulations can be tested to find out how they behave during extrusion. The amount of extruded samples is usually sufficient to be easily made for testing and evaluation of a newly developed food product.

• Continuous research and development ensure continuous improvement and optimization of final products. Final products require quality control. This is most easily done on a laboratory scale without the need for industrial extruders.

• Universal laboratory food extruders designed for small batches of product, with the possibility of a quick change of the research process, can be effectively used in the training process. They allow you to effectively use time and maximize the effectiveness of training.

• The modular design of the die enables the extrusion of products of various sizes as well as different raw materials such as wheat gluten or soybeans. Conducting product tests in laboratories or pilot plants saves time, provides greater flexibility and lower costs compared to the situation when testing should be carried out on production equipment.

• The laboratory extruder provides full control over the entire process. The ½” UNF measuring ports installed in the meat analogue texturing die enable the measurement of pressure or temperature of the extruded food product. Thanks to accurate measurements, structural changes in the product can be recorded in real time and correlated with the obtained product properties.

• The modular design of the die consisting of the lower and upper halves ensures the possibility of extruding products of various sizes. We will be happy to adapt the die to your requirements.

Product scalability from labs to food production.

Laboratory food extruders are a valuable research and development tool for performing research that will eventually be scaled up to industrial production. In addition to preventing the use of valuable production resources, significant material cost savings can be achieved by making small batches of the product.Flexibility is the key to scale-up operation. Lab extruders for extruding food products The versatile lab extruder allows you to test and modify your processes for best results before scaling up to production.

A key factor in successful scaling is ensuring that food products have exactly the same experience on production equipment as they do on lab food extrusion lines Zamak Mercator lab extruders are fully customizable and can be equipped with specialized process control instrumentation to continuously measure and record parameters in order to accurately reproduce the food extrusion processThe technical parameters of food extruders are highCompact and versatile, and at the same time stable and precise, Zamak Mercator laboratory extruders turn out to be a very profitable investment in equipment intended for research.

Zamak Mercator is a manufacturer of laboratory twin-screw extruders for food with screw diameters: 2 x 12 mm and 2 x 16 mm.
Research twin-screw food extruders designed for larger tasks [applications] with screw diameters: 2 x 20 mm, 2 x 24 mm and 2 x 32 mm.

• The extruders can work as co-rotating and, after changing the operating mode, as counter-rotating with the L/D range up to 48, with a modular and non-modular structure.

• The key factor determining the quality and credibility of research on the food extrusion process is the control and reliable measurement of the melt temperature in each zone of the extruder.

• The barrel of the food twin screw extruder is divided along the longitudinal axis in order to obtain the possibility of optical control of the process of plasticizing and melt mixing.

• The extruder barrel is equipped with ports for side feeders and ports on top of the barrel for dispensing liquids or gases. The heaters are positioned so that heat is distributed evenly in each heating and cooling zone of the food extruder barrel.

• The temperature measuring sensors are arranged in such a way as to ensure reliable temperature measurement and limit measurement interference from heaters operating at a higher temperature than the plasticizing system.

• To avoid uncontrolled temperature rises, each zone of the cylinder is equipped with an efficient and fast cooling system that works in conjunction with the heating system of the food extruder cylinder.

• Precise temperature control of the plasticizing system of the extruder is ensured by a multi-zone temperature controller designed by our company.

• The temperature control system has the ability to calibrate and shape the heating and cooling characteristics of the plasticizing system by the researcher.

• We have designed cylinders with exchangeable inserts constituting the working surface of the extruder cylinder. In practice, this means that we can adapt the extruder to work with other materials in a short time by replacing the cylinder inserts. Interchangeable inserts allow for quick and relatively cheap regeneration of the plasticizing system. In principle, inserts can be made of any material and technology that is fit for the purpose. A set of augers is easy to replace with another. Virtually all materials involving the food industry can be researched.

• The Vertex II geared extruders replace two extruders, expanding your research capabilities.Our extruders are equipped with torque dividing gears that can work as co-rotating and counter-rotating, the direction of rotation is changed automatically from the operator's panel.

• Zamak Mercator laboratory extruders for food can be equipped with a precise tensometric measurement of the force acting on the screws lengthwise, this mechanism additionally extends the possibilities of conducting research on food products.

• The Vertex II geared extruders replace two extruders, expanding your research capabilities. Our extruders are equipped with torque dividing gears that can work as co-rotating and counter-rotating, the direction of rotation is changed automatically from the operator's panel.

Factors affecting food extrusion using twin-screw extruders.

Food extruders have a very long history, and meat extruders were used to make sausages as far back as the 1870s. In the 1930s, dry pasta and breakfast cereals were massively extruded, and many bakeries also started using extruders for food production. Since then, food extrusion technology has crept into the everyday kitchen appliances such as herb and coffee grinders, meat grinders and pasta machines.

The beneficial properties of the food extrusion process lead to consistent and repeatable quality, uniformity and efficiency in the mass production of food products. Food can be profiled into cooked or cold-formed products or semi-finished products of any size, color, shape and consistency.
Starchy foods extrude well, such as pasta, breads, cereals, snacks and candy The food extruder mixes the ingredients evenly, utilizing the heat generated by the friction of the process, as well as additional heating during cooking, before passing the material through the die to form the product final.
Reactions and changes in the state of the food material in the extruder plasticizing system and at the die face contribute to different food processing results Some foods, such as cereals and snack chips, are formed using rapid expansion or swelling that occurs when the material is released by the matrix into the environment.

Custom-made extrusion dies can impart additional properties to the final product, for example, a long die gives vegetable protein the fibrous appearance of real meat, or bronze casting gives pasta a rougher surface for better sauce retention.
As with any extrusion process, the determining factors are material composition and flow properties, screw speed, barrel length, temperature, pressure, humidity, die shape and product cutting speed, all of which must be closely monitored and controlled to ensure that the final food product has required features of appearance, touch and taste.
Most extruder food production takes place at fairly low humidity levels, i.e. below 40%, as moisture reduces the viscosity of the mix and plasticizes the material being processed Increased wet mix density lowers torque and reduces die pressure Wet extrusion requires feeding and mixing in a twin screw extruder and requires better control process temperature.

Another factor affecting the texture of the final products is the salt content, which affects the product's aeration and consequently its expansion after extrusion. Salt also affects the color of the food, as the resulting water absorption affects the ability of the material to brown.It does, however, provide a useful carrier to help distribute colors and flavors evenly throughout the product.

Extrusion technology of textured meat analogs.

Moisture-controlled extrusion process can be used to create plant-based meat and seafood textures During extrusion, proteins are subjected to thermal and mechanical stress by heating the cylinder and shearing the screws As a result, the structure of the protein changes, leading to the formation of soluble and/or insoluble aggregates Long segmented matrix A chiller attached to the end of the extruder allows the proteins to align in the direction of flow through the die, creating an anisotropic network of proteins.
A wide range of end product properties can be achieved by changing the process conditions during moisture controlled extrusion processing Process conditions in the screw section can be changed using independent process parameters such as barrel temperature, screw speed and their configuration when using segmented screws Process conditions in the die section can be changed through the cooling rate and die geometry This greatly improves process flexibility Extrusion is a complex process with many variables and the sections are directly connected Any change in one section (e.g. cooling rate in the die section) changes the process conditions in the other section (e.g. pressure and filling degree) auger section).

Conducting research allows a better understanding of the effect of temperature and/or moisture content on the molecular structure and physicochemical and final product properties in the case of soybean and pea proteins. In addition, thermal and mechanical treatment during extrusion processing affects the molecular structure of proteins and properties.
Extrusion of textured proteins is one of the many successful applications of this unique cooking process Formed meat analogues are blends of various protein sources such as protein isolates, glutens, albuminsExtrusion cooked vegetable and other proteins are blended with oils, flavors and binders before being formed into sheets, patties, strips or discs.
Extruders are able to produce a meat analog that has a remarkable similarity in appearance, texture and mouthfeel to meat The use of extrusion cooking in the food industry has shown that extrusion equipment can produce a wide variety of products Some of these products include breakfast cereals, breadcrumbs, snacks , instant rice, instant noodles, starch modifications, animal feed.

In addition to changing the texture and restructuring of plant food proteins, the extrusion system performs several other important functions: denatures proteins Proteins are effectively denatured during the moist, thermal extrusion process Protein denaturation lowers solubility, destroys biological activity of enzymes and toxic proteins Deactivates residual growth inhibitors native to many plant proteins in raw or partially processed Growth inhibitors have a detrimental physiological effect on humans or animals, as shown by growth or metabolism studies Controls raw or bitter flavors commonly associated with many plant-based sources of dietary protein Many of these undesirable flavors are volatile and are eliminated by protein extrusion and decompression at the head extruders.

Description of the extrusion process of food products using twin-screw extruders.

Food extrusion can be defined as the process of mixing, homogenizing and shaping food materials with relatively low moisture content, and in recent times food materials with high moisture content. As a result of this process, intermediate or finished products are formed, extruded through a specially designed die.
Food extrusion is a modern high-temperature cooking process with the ability to apply pressure in the process, which can be generated by the screws of the extruder. The extrusion process can be accompanied by additional operations and such as conveying, kneading, heating, cooling, mixing and forming in one device Food extrusion is widely used in the processes of research and production of food for humans and animals.

The extrusion process typically involves applying a large amount of energy to the food ingredients under pressure and in a short time to produce a continuous viscous dough.
Extruder cooking has basically revolutionized the food industry, as it has obvious advantages over conventional food processes. High-temperature operation time is a matter of seconds, which has a beneficial effect on maintaining the properties of ingredients and active substances while ensuring high quality parameters.
High process temperatures and pressure increase the rate of destruction of harmful microorganisms, enabling the production of end products with a long shelf life due to their low final moisture content in the process Continuous extruder cooking process has economic advantages due to the replacement of multiple batch processes with a single process Final content can be controlled moisture, thus avoiding the need to evaporate a large amount of water.

Division of food extruders into single-screw and twin-screw extruders.

Textured proteins can be processed in single and twin screw extruders There are differences between the two designs Single screw extruders are machines that have produced and continue to produce the world's largest tonnage of textured soy protein products For textured proteins, the limiting factor in the use of single screw extruders is the ability to use a narrow range of raw materials Their use requires good uniform ingredients.
The plasticizing system of the twin-screw extruder consists of two cooperating, interlocking, self-cleaning sets of screws. The screws are divided into segments, thanks to which their arrangement can be modified, thus affecting the processing properties of the extruder to a large extent. more positive product pick-up characteristics compared to a single auger As a result, the twin auger design allows for a greater variety of product processing.

Generally speaking, food extruders can be divided into single screw and twin screw extruders. Raw materials with high coefficient of friction, such as corn grits, rice cones, whole grains, extrude well in single screw extruders. For this reason, they are widely used to extrude snacks and breakfast cereals.
Twin screw extruders are classified as co-rotating and counter-rotating depending on the relative motion of the extruder screws relative to each other.
Co-rotating twin-screw extruders offer better conveying, mixing than single-screw extruders. Compared to a counter-rotating twin-screw extruder, a co-rotating extruder can run at much higher rotational speeds, thus providing higher throughput and better mixing.

The die is a key element in the design of the extruderThe die area is the section of the extruder that occurs after the food material leaves the extruder barrel.The die usually consists of three parts which are the transition, distribution and die plate sections. As the dough leaves the die, the temperature and pressure drop rapidly and the product expands as it is released into the environment.

Food extruder die and food product expansion.

The die is one of the main components of the extruder configuration The die allows the extruded dough to expand rapidly into various shapes and sizes depending on the configuration of the die section Understanding the material properties and flow pattern of the extruder die is fundamental in controlling extruder performance, shape and product quality.
It has been observed that the die entry pressure drop for a viscoelastic fluid is much greater than the entry pressure for a Newtonian fluid of nearly the same viscosity. The inlet pressure drop of the extruder dies increases with the decrease of the extruder barrel diameter ratio. die These factors are very important in the design of dies for food extruders.

Process conditions combined with die parameters can have a significant impact on extrusion quality The die diameter and length play a very important role in the extrusion process The flow rate decreases proportionally as the length of the die is increased Typically when cooking with extrusion, reducing the size of the die opening increases the pressure in the die The role of the die in defining texture in extruded products is often overlooked and underestimated The shape of the die will affect the shape and texture of the finished item Tapered die opening will create a smoother surface of the product and cause less mechanical damage to the extruded ingredients A die insert with a sudden change in cross-section and short length will cause more mechanical damage to food ingredients and a finer cellular structureThe shear environment of laminar flow through the matrix influences the textureHigher shear rate matrices have the potential to influence the texture more The product's high shear rate in the matrix causes more shear damage and reduces molecular size, creating softer products with smaller pores, increased solubility and lower mechanical strength. The matrix can also greatly affect textured soy protein.

Conclusion - twin screw food extruders.

The current trend towards vegan and vegetarian diets is driving the use of plant-based proteins as meat and seafood substitutesWhile most meat substitutes are still based on soy or wheat gluten protein, new meat analogues with alternative proteins, binders, flavor enhancers and natural colors are also emergingNew research Research and development will need to address and address the interaction of flavors and colors with plant proteins, and how water binds to plant proteins to enable new plant-based meat and seafood analogues to increase juiciness and freshness.