Increasing the efficiency of the extruder in producing sunflower cake

Abstract The purpose of the research is to reduce the specific energy consumption of extruders in the protein feed preparation, namely a sunflower cake, and at the same time to increase productivity without product quality deterioration. The research objective is to develop a mathematical model that describes the performance of the improved extruder. As a result of the experimental and theoretical studies using experiment design methods, a mathematical model of the sunflower cake obtainment process was designed, it describes the performance of the improved extruder. The analysis of two-dimensional sections of the combination of X 1 - X 2 factors shows the nature of the response surface of an ellipsoid shape, X 1 - X 3 , X 2 - X 3 are of a paraboloid, and the centers of the experiment are located in the investigated area, which allow determining rational parameters for combinations of these factors. As a result of a multifactorial experiment, the optimal values of the factors were determined: the mixture temperature at the exit from the extrusion auger of the matrix is 133.67 °C, the extrusion auger winding pitch is 7.58 mm, the area of the discharge hole of the matrix die is 323.89 mm 2 . With a combination of factor optimal values, it is possible to obtain high-quality sunflower cake with the highest extruder capacity, which is 0.87 t/h.