Parâmetros operacionais do processo de extrusão termoplástica para a produção de rações secas para animais

Abstract

The market directed to the pet industry has been growing year after year and, despite the enormous diversity of products and services offered, much of the movement surrounding it has come from pet food sector, with emphasis on the commercialization of dry feed. These rations, used in the daily feeding of these animals, are produced through the thermoplastic extrusion process, which involves multiple steps and various procedures to ensure product quality and adequacy to the desired levels of guarantee. This process prepares the ingredients and transforms them into a superior product, nutritionally suitable, safe, more digestible and more attractive to the animal. During this process, operating parameters are crucial to its efficiency, ensuring good flow and good outcomes. Thus, this work brings a study about some of these parameters and the stages related to them, such as: bran granulometry in the milling stage, mass moisture in the extrusion stage, degree of starch gelatinization in the extrusion stage and degree of expansion of the extrudate after extrusion. Thus, their influence and effect over some of the process’ steps and the characteristics of the finished product is evaluated. In addition, an analysis was made over some case studies covering some recurring operational difficulties in an industry, followed by the identification of possible solutions or improvements that could remedy or mitigate the consequences of these problems by adjusting the parameters under study.