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Extrusion Cooking Systems for Feed Production. Joe Kearns (Wenger)

Published: March 26, 2012
Joe Kearns, Aquaculture Process Engineering Manager at Wenger Manufacturing, Inc., talks about latest developments Wenger has made regarding Aquaculture Products at Victam 2012.
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Joseph P. Kearns
Wenger Manufacturing INC.
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Jayaraj Ettigi
7 de mayo de 2012
Which feed ingredients are best for making floating fish feeds for ornamental fishes?. What should be the particle size of ingredients for extrusion process? We have recently procured Twin screw extruder (Chinese make) a lab model with 30 kg/hour capacity.
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S. M. A. Halim
9 de mayo de 2012
For floating fish feed Extrustion Cooking Systems is very important to get the good quality products. For floating fish feed need any flavour to attraction the fish to eat very first the feed.
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Joseph P. Kearns
Wenger Manufacturing INC.
15 de mayo de 2012

Dear Jayaraj, There are a number of feed ingredients which are important, all selected based on the nutrition of the fish being fed. For floating starch is needed at about 20% to insure floating. Feed ingredients need to be ground to a minimum of 1/3 the die hole size. I would think the finer the better for small fish down to about 200 micron.

Dear Halim,

You are correct, attractants can be beneficial to the first feeding. If the fish are started out when young they will eat the feed more readily throughout their growth cycle.

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M.m.yaghobzadeh
8 de junio de 2012
Hello Your system for complete feed livestock Ruminants how and what program do you recommend?
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Md. Rezaul Haque
Agro Industrial Trust
23 de enero de 2013

There are several factor that affect the proper Extrusion and Floating quality-

1. Extrusion Temperature - It vary from 120 degree centigrade to 145 degree centigrade

2. Extrusion Time - vary with extrusion temperature ( 1 to 4 minutes)

3. Particle size of the ingredient - if the particle size is more small effective extrusion within short time.

4. Starch percentage - at least 20% for better floating (100%)

5. Raw Material Quality- Practically we have seen that low fiber content raw material, high floating tendency.

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Enrique Diaz
Anderson International Corp
23 de enero de 2018
Md. Rezaul Haque with all due respect.... 1-4 minutes extrusion time? Are you referring to the residence time of the mash inside the extruder? If so I had never seen a very extended cooking time inside any extruder. For your reference Extrusion/Cooking time is between 20-30 seconds, also the Extrusion/Cooking temperatures you are mentioning are pretty high and above the standards. I'm afraid that following your suggestions the feed produced will be OUT of specifications.
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Joseph P Kearns
25 de enero de 2018
Enrique Diaz Both of you are in the zone of being correct. Extrusion with advanced preconditioning can be up to 4 min but the goal is not to go over this as lysine destruction may occur. Temperatures can be most generally from room temperature or even lower up to about 130 with the odd temperature requirement for some unusual product going much higher as in melting and extruding straight sugar based products. Granted the low temperature extrusions also is in special areas and thus for feed production of all types it is generally 75 degrees C up to about 130 Degrees C. Particle size yes generally the smaller the better within reason for the product being made.
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6 de febrero de 2018
Enrique Diaz how to add Vitamin “C”
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Enrique Diaz
Anderson International Corp
6 de febrero de 2018

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Dear UNKNOWN friend:
I would be happy to interchange information with you but I like to call people by their names and I doubt ?????? is your name. In any case, please identify yourself so everyone can see who is on the other side of the screen. Thanks.

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D.V.Sambasivarao
23 de diciembre de 2021
I think temperatures up to 145 deg c are o.k....but extruder residence time 4 minutes is not possible...
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Sakariyah Shakiru Ariyo
30 de enero de 2022
Md. Rezaul Haque; this is really a great piece of lecture. Many thanks.
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Jayaraj Ettigi
26 de enero de 2013

Dear All,

Thanks for all the info provided. Currently we are researching in developing floating and slow sinking feeds for ornamental fishes.

Regards
jayaraj

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Mel Raymundo
14 de abril de 2016
Dear All Friends in the Industry, All above items that being mentioned are very important like its starch level, particle size, conditioning, etc. also don't forget your die plate open area (you can set your own open area based on your formulation) so that you can have a bigger capacity and better quality.
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Sk.Bashir Abdullah
5 de mayo de 2019
Mel Raymundo hello friend ! Good day. Can you share with us, how to calculate ""die plate open area (you can set your own open area based on your formulation) so that you can have a bigger capacity and better quality."". bashir01219@gmail.com Regards. Bashir
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D.V.Sambasivarao
23 de diciembre de 2021
Die open area is nothing but a number of holes required for die regarding formulas.....200mm to 250 mm per your of productionfor floating fishfeed.
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D.V.Sambasivarao
23 de diciembre de 2021
200 mm to 250 mm open area per ton of production
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Mario Miranda Lavarello
Natural Foods
13 de enero de 2018
Many thanks Joe about the topic !!, Joe Kearns is my friend and he has more than 42 years working with Wenger selling Extruders and Dryers for petfood and aquafeed, so he really can manage this Forum in a technical approach. Extrusion cooking systems, I will speak in particuar to single screw extrusion as well twin screw extrusion. Both machines must be fed with a specific formulation regarding the specie you are feeding --in terms its nutritional requirements and the stage in the life cicle of the animal--. (assumming the first stages of the process been: intake, grinding, dosing, mixing and preconditioning, prior to extrusion). The advantage of extrusion cooking rather that pellet mill´s --another alternative to cook starches--, is that extruders can obtain a much more digestibility of the end products from the animals, thus, obtaining a much better performance in terms of conversion factor, i.e., the amout of feed necesarry to make grow the animal in 1 kilo of meet. Other relevant aspect is the management of the bulk density of the extruded feed (for sinking purpuses in fish feed), and that the extrudate is a very stable structure--out of the extruder-- from a chemical point of view (another advantage for fish feed --salmon, tilapia, sea bass, sea bream, schrimp, etc.) This way, its possible to desing and formulate specific extrudates for the fish or other animals --at different stages of the life cicle in terms of its nutritional requirements. i.e., fat content, proteins, fibre, energy--, diferent sizes and shapes, and with this scope, feed the animal at the most efficient economical performance. Thus, as the upwardig protein gap related to global expansion of the population, from my mind, aquaculture and the ocean, aquaponics inland aquaculture, offshore aquaculture, is where the focus will be, and a very interesting place to be in, considering that by 2100 the population is going to be 19 billion people and by 2050 11 plus billion people --from my forecast with UN data-- This is the technology that is going to grow at the same exponential rate..Extrusion Feed Plants !! BIg Hug Joe !!
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ARVIND NARULA
28 de junio de 2018

Mario Miranda Lavarello

Thank you, Mr. Mario.

Can the parameters of a food floating fish feed be obtained on a small extrusion machine like 500 kg/hr. Is it technically viable?

Please educate.

Regards,

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Joseph P Kearns
2 de julio de 2018
How about I respond to this one also. The answer is yes a functional small version of large well designed extruder can make floating and sinking feeds. The question is not technical but cost effectiveness. Unless the feed is of such a high value the cost of a small proper extruder is not justifiable.
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Katie Mayo
Insta-Pro International
2 de julio de 2018

I would like to add a few more comments regarding making sinking vs floating fish feed.

1. Floating or sinking pellets are dependent on the formulation. Both the type of starch and inclusion rate of starch will make a shaped fish feed float. Generally, sinking pellets incorporate less starch and higher fat, with post-fat application likely.

2. Additionally, the type of die plate used will help with expansion (for floating) and gelatinization (binding) of the fish feed. For floating fish feed, a longer land length can assist with more expansion, hence, floating characteristics of the pellet. Alternatively, a shorter land length and more back pressure at the die plate can generate sinking characteristics due to less room for expansion. The type of starch used will affect the amount of gelatinization (or cook) of the fish feed. If a high quality starch is used then the sinking pellets will hold together better. Post-extrusion handling is also important to sort fines (especially with small diameter feeds < 2 mm) that may interfere with the ability of the feed to float vs sink.

3. Extrusion is an adaptable technology for generating shaped products, such as fish feed. Small changes in the formulation of the feed can affect pellet characteristics such as binding, size, shape, and sinking/floating. It is important to work with someone that has experience developing different types of fish feeds to match your application. It is possible to produce aquatic feed with small scale production (about 1 ton per hr), which results in a smaller investment in equipment. This also leaves potential to expand by adding more equipment as the business grows.

To summarize, final desired product will influence what type of extruder (single vs twin screw), scale of production, and types of ingredients you will use in your operation. Feel free to reach out if you have any further questions about the use of extrusion for developing fish feed.

Thank you, Joe Kearns, for starting and continuing the discussion on how extrusion can be used to produce high-quality fish feed.

If you are interested in learning more about the extrusion process and how it can be applied to the aquaculture industry, check out this short course in aquaculture hosted at Texas A&M by PERDC (https://perdc.tamu.edu/event/aquaculture-feed-extrusion-nutrition-and-feed-management-short-course/).

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Sakariyah Shakiru Ariyo
30 de enero de 2022
Katie Mayo; Thanks for this piece of information!
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Sakariyah Shakiru Ariyo
30 de enero de 2022
Katie Mayo; Thanks for this piece of information! Please can you recheck the link shared, because it's not responding when I tried to open
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Redie Dwi
10 de agosto de 2022
Katie Mayo site is not aviable
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Nkonge Bbosa
10 de julio de 2018
Thanks for educating us on the best way to manufacture floating fish pellets feeds. However, please educate us on some of the best natural binders for the pellets.
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Katie Mayo
Insta-Pro International
10 de julio de 2018

Nkonge Bbosa, both animal and plant starches can act as a binding agent in the formulation. Higher quality starches, such as high-gluten wheat flour, plant-based cellulose, or even animal plasma products can all serve to improve pellet durability. Do you have a desired length of time after feeding before the pellet loses its durability in mind?

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Nkonge Bbosa
20 de julio de 2018

Thanks, Katie Mayo for sharing very important and educational aquatic information. Regards the durability, I aim at attaining between 12 hours and 20 hours.

Thanks.

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Khaled Itani
11 de julio de 2018

Loses its durability? Do you mean disintegrates completely in water?
What would the binding agent do exactly? Increase the water stability of the pellet, or the durability, or the hardness, or combination?

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Katie Mayo
Insta-Pro International
11 de julio de 2018

Khaled Itani,

I am referring to the aqua-durability, or the ability of the pellet to stay intact once it's been fed in the water. To go a little more in detail, a desirable fish pellet should be durable enough to remain floating and absorb water, but not change its shape (i.e. disintegrate) after being in the water for a couple of hours. This is important because not all fish will eat right away. Also, if a pellet disintegrates in the water before it can be consumed by the fish, it can pollute the water which will have adverse effects on the fish's health.

Different types of starches, such as cereal flours or animal plasma products, or cellulose (i.e. main ingredient of most pellet binders) can act as binders in aqua feed using a cooking process like extrusion. More specifically, starch gelatinization (process of swelling when starches are exposed to heat and water) occurs allowing for the pellet to absorb more water. Generally, the better the starch gelatinization of the pellet, the better the pellet durability.

It is important to note that there are other advantages to using extrusion to process fish feed, such as flexibility to change shape and size of pellet, improved expansion for floating characteristics, better oil absorption for coating, and improved palatability of raw ingredients.

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Khaled Itani
12 de julio de 2018
"A desirable fish pellet should be durable enough to remain floating and absorb water, but not change its shape (i.e. disintegrate) after being in the water for a couple of hours". Where is the connection between "durable enough" "remain floating" " absorb water" " not change its shape i.e. disintegrate" after being in water for couple of hours...? - First: If a pellet absorbs water, it will change shape, i.e. become swollen. -Second: Durability is the resistance of a pellet to breakage (how much fines are produced) when the pellet is subjected to stress i.e. handling, transport etc.. -Third: Durability is not the main factor determining float-ability. Bulk density of the pellet, oil content, starch source and content and processing parameters during extrusion and more... Lastly, my question was: What would the binding agent do exactly? Increase the water stability of the pellet, or the durability, or the hardness, or combination? Thanks
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Radmilo Colovic
Institute of Food Technology - FINS
Institute of Food Technology - FINS
18 de julio de 2018

Dear Joe,

Hope you are doing great.

Thank you for opening a very interesting topic.

Can you share some more details on the trials you have performed on the tuna feed production? What was the proximate moisture content in the feeding section before steam and slurry addition and what was calculated moisture content in the barrel (counting the steam and slurry part as well)? Did you use glycerol as the humectant? Was it a semi-moist product (16-18%)? What was the model of the extruder?

Thank you in advance,

Radmilo.

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Joseph P Kearns
18 de julio de 2018

Radmilo Colovic

All is good. The tuna feeds worked on while at Wenger were of the semi moist style. 3 feed streams, one of standard feed ingredients at 11- 12% moisture. The 2nd stream or the ground up pilchards approx. 65% moisture, and the liquid stream of humectants. All by computer control with flow meters etc to get the percent's correct. We were really up in moisture near 40%. 1/2 the formula was ground pilchards of 65% moisture. The Wenger Thermal Twin was used.

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shadrack otieno
8 de agosto de 2018

On extruded material, on maize gram, we check bulk density & moister what nozzle is the best for this.

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Joseph P Kearns
17 de agosto de 2018

shadrack otieno

Just saw this message, noted you extruder corn or maize grains, you check bulk density and moisture levels.
I need to ask you to clarify what you mean by what nozzle is best for this? Define nozzle. I can make an assumption as in die opening but I will allow you to clarify first.

Joe Kearns.

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Srinivasan Pandiarajan
Rajiv Gandhi Centre For Aquaculture
11 de octubre de 2020

Myself involved in Asian seabass Aquaculture. As you are well aware that, weaning of fry stage is become challenging in marine finfish particularly Asian Seabass. The stability of feed varies from freshwater, brackishwater and then marine. We prefer to have slow sinking type of extruded feed with high protein composition. Whether cooking process during extrusion for slow sinking type of feed can meet the requirements while rearing in various physical water parameters.

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