Screw Extruder Components

Archimedes Screw

▪ Archimedes of Syracuse designed a wooden apparatus to

move water from a lower to a higher level with the turn of
a screw (a helical surface surrounding a central cylindrical
shaft) w/in a hollow pipe.
 Food Extruder
▪ A food extruder consists of a flighted Archimedes screw
which rotates in a tightly fitting cylindrical barrel.

▪ Raw ingredients are pre-ground & blended before being

placed in the feeder or feed end of the extrusion screw.
These ingredients may partially heated & moisturized in a
preconditioning chamber (can be a atmospheric or pressure
cooker type).

▪ The action of the flights on the screw push the food

product forward & mix the constituents into a viscous
dough-like mass.
 Food Extruder
▪ Heat is added to the food dough as it passes through the
screw by 1 or more of 3 mechanisms:

1) Viscous dissipation of mechanical energy being added to

the screw shaft,
2) Indirect heating by heat transfer from steam or electrical
heaters surrounding the barrel,
3) Direct heating by direct injection of steam which is mixed
with the dough in the screw.
 Food Extruder
▪ As the moist & hot food materials moves through the
extruder, the pressure w/in the barrel increases due to
restriction at the discharge of the barrel.

▪ The restriction is caused by 1 @ > 1 orifices or shaped

openings called a die. Discharge pressures typically vary 30
– 60 atm.

▪ At this elevated pressures, boiling or flashing of moisture

doesn’t occur w/in the confines of the barrel because the
pressure exceeds the water’s vapour pressure at the
extrusion temperature.
 Food Extruder
▪ Once the food emerges from the die, the pressure is released
causing the product to expand with the extensive flashing of
moisture.

▪ Moisture loss from the product results in adiabatic cooling

of the food materials with the product reaching a T ~ 80 °C
in a matter of seconds, where it solidifies & sets often
retaining its expanded shape.

▪ Adiabatic cooling involves……….

 Food Extruder
▪ Because the screw flights of an extruder are completely full,
the food product is subjected to high shear rates as it is
conveyed & flows by the action of the screw.

▪ These high shear rate areas tend to align long molecules in

the food constituents giving rise to cross-linking or re-
structuring, resulting in the extruded foods unique texture.

▪ The shear environment in the die assembly of the extruder

can also have similar effects.
 Extrusion System
▪ Generally, all extrusion systems contain 5 key components:
1. Primary feed system consisting of a container & delivery
system for the primary ingredients.
2. Pump to move all ingredients through the steps associated
with the extrusion process.
3. Reaction vessel where key actions e.g. mixing, kneading,
shearing, heating & cooling occur.
4. Secondary feed system for adding secondary ingredients or
energy needed to achieve the desired product characteristics.
5. Exit assembly designed to restrict flow & contribute to the
shaping & forming of the final product (at the die).
 Extrusion System
▪ These components appear in different ways & may be identified
differently in various extrusion systems, depending on the specific
equipment used & the product being manufactured.
▪ Early example of extrusion processing include pasta products
(macaroni, spaghetti etc) & pellets for conversion into RTE
cereals. Current applications include commercial production of
cereal-based productsb(cornflake, puffed rice, snacks) fruit-based
products (fruit gums, licorices, hard candies), protein-based
products (textured vegetable proteins), animal feed (pet foods) &
spice-based products (flavours).
▪ The most commonly used extruders are single & twin screw.
Extruder with more than two screws have been used in the plastic
industry but not in food processing.
 Typical Single-screw Extruder
▪ The main design features of a screw extruder is shown
below.
 A. Extrusion Drive
1. Support stand - made of a steel or cast which can be bolted to
the floor, to support extruder.
2. Drive motor – usually operated by electric motor to drive the fd
extruder. The motor’s size is depends on extruder’s capacity, may be
as large as 300kW (400hp)
3. Speed variation - screw speed variation is one of imp control
parameter. For continuous control of speed, SCR (silicon control
rectifier) DC motors becoming widely used
4. Transmission
- screw speed in food extruder
- normally < 500 rpm
- requires a transmission to reduce the speed with a proportional
increase in Torque of drive motor. A reducer can be belts, chains or
gear reducer with +ve lubrication.
 A. Extrusion Drive
5. Thrust bearing
- part of a gear reduction unit.
- is to support & center the extrusion screw, & absorb the thrust (axial
load) directed toward the rear of the screw by the screw.
- The major comp of thrust is caused by the head pressure acting upon
the frontal area of the screw, which is like the hydraulic cylinder.
- another contributor; is the pressure differential acting along the
entire length of the screw.
 B. Feed Assembly
▪ For operation of feeding, blending & preconditioning, which of
moisturising &/ or heating of ingredients.
1. Hoppers/bins
- Steel bins are used to hold fd ingredients above feeders.
-Bin vibrators are used to aid movement of ingredients into feeder &
also to prevent bridging. These vibrators can be oscillators, jets of air,
internally mounted screw conveyors
- Hoppers which equipped with devices at their discharges (to ensure
continuous flow of ingredients, are said to have live-bottom)
2. Feeder (dry ingredients)
- A device which to provide a uniform delivery of food ingredients
(often sticky, non-free-flowing).
i. Vibratory feeders; ii. Variable speed auger; iii. Weigh belts
 B. Feed Assembly
3. Slurry tanks
- Storage tanks for adding liquid ingredients or slurries into extruder.
- Normally equipped with agitator or heating jackets to keep
ingredients heated, uniformly dispersed & free flowing.
- Bin vibrators are used to aid movement of ingredients into feeder &
also to prevent bridging. These vibrators can be oscillators, jets of air,
internally mounted screw conveyors.
- Hoppers which equipped with devices at their discharges (to ensure
continuous flow of ingredients, are said to have live-bottom)
4. Liquid feeder
Uniform metering of liquid ingredients is accomplished in variety of
ways.
i) Water wheels - a rotating with many of cups attached to its
periphery. Water level must constant into which the cups dip in.
Discharge rate to rotational speed of wheel.
 B. Feed Assembly
ii) Positive displacement metering pumps- liq are metered at
constant rate by this pump whose length of stroke of rotational
speed can be varied.
iii) Variable orifice - a needle valve is used to create a variable
orifice opening to control liq flow.
iv) Variable head – the pressure or height of liq entering a fixed
orifice can be used to control liq flow rate.
▪ Liqui flow control system:
1) feedfrwd – setting will give a fixed & constant feed-rate
response or
2) feedback – adjust position of the primary control element on
the basis of measurement of the actual flow which feedback to the
primary control element
 B. Feed Assembly
5. Batch feed syst.
The proper ratio of ind ingre is maintained by weighing them into
a larger weigh hopper on a batch bales – sis. It is mixed & fed as a
preblend before entering extruder.
6. Continuous feed syst.
Individual ingredient streams are continuously combined in proper
proportion/ratio. Individual feeders on each stream control the rate of
addition of the various ingredient types to continuous blender before
they enter the extruder.
7. Preconditioner
Ribbons - helical ribbon flights
Paddles - small flat-bladed paddles
 B. Feed Assembly
8. Rotary or star valve
As a continuous feed port which maintains a seal b/w the internal
pressure of the preconditioner & the external atm pressure.

9. Feed transition.
A device which feed ingre directly from preconditioner.
▪
C. Extrusion screw
Divided into 3 sections to serve several function:
1. Feed section
- Typically 10-25% of screw’s total length
- It accepts fd materials at the feed port or throat. Usually is characterised by
deep flight so that pdct can easily fall into flights (to avoid starved feeding) &
to transport materials away fr the feed throat.
2. Compression section
- The portion b/w feed & metering section. This section changes gradually fr
deep to shallow flights.
- Compression is achieved in several ways- refer to Figure 2 in reference 6
vol. 1.
- Fd ingre normally heated & worked into a continuous dough mass during
passage through this transition section.
- Character of feed material changes fr a granular/particulate state to an
amorphous/plasticized dough.
- Approx ½ length of screw (longest portion)
 C. Extrusion screw
3. Metering section
- The nearest to discharge of extruder, characterised by very shallow
flights (increase the shear rate in the channel to max level within the
screw) .
- viscous dissipation of mechanical energy is typically large so that T
increases rapidly.
- High shear rate in the screw enhances internal mixing to produce T
uniformity in extrudate.
- In some cases, pin/cut flights are employed to increase mixing &
mechanical energy dissipation.
- Modeling of the fd extruder has focused on this section of the
screw.
Features of Screw &
Definition of Symbols
1. Barrel diameter, D.

2. Screw diameter, Ds = D - 2 (actual screw dia accounting for the

clearance, ).

3. Channel depth, H = R – Ri.

4. Flight height, Hs = H -  (actual flight height of the screw).

5. Root dia, Dr – dia of the root of the screw.

6. Screw pitch = B + b.

7. Lead, l – axial distance from the leading edge of a flight at its o/side
dia to the leading edge of the same flight in front of it.

8. Helix angle,  - angle flights make from a line perpendicular to the

axis of the screw shaft.
6. Channel:
i. Axial channel width, B – axial distance from the leading edge of
one flight to the trailing edge of the same flight one complete turn
away at the dia of the screw.
ii. Channel width, W – channel width perpendicular to the flight.
iii. Axial flight width, b – axial width of a flight measured at the dia
of the screw.

7. Peripheral speed or tip velocity of the screw, V – speed of screw

tip, which is dependent on the dia of the screw & rotational speed of
the shaft.
8. Available volume of screw channel, Va – determines the total
volumetric capacity of the extruder.
▪ Va is commomly used by manufacturer to compare actual extruder capacity
of one extruder to another based on the same hp & Ds. Extuder capacity is
based on the vol of the extrudates that can be extruded w/in a given time period,
e.g. per hr or m3/hr.
▪ H/e, many manufacturer may quote their extruder capacity at much higher
rate, since the base for their evaluation of the extruder may be based on a higher
bulk density of the raw material than that of the manufacturer’s comparative
extruder.
▪ Ex: corn starch w bulk density of 368 kg/m3 compare with whole grit of 640
kg/m3.
9. CR – developed vol at feed opening in screw channel/ dev vol in
metering screw channel of the last full flight prior to discharge.
 D. Extruder barrel
The cylindrical member which fits tightly around rotating screw of
extruder
Features of barrel:
1. Bore, D

2. L/Ds – ratio of barrel length to screw dia.

3. Segmented barrel - If the barrel extruder is in segments, one

segment is referred as the ratio L/Ds & the total barrel set up is
referred to as a # of these ratios. Ex: a six barrel segment
extruder with 4L/Ds = 24L/Ds.

4. Feed throat/opening- 4 shapes of throat: vertical, slope,

undercut, side.
 D. Extruder barrel
5. Barrel Liner

6. Hardened material of construction - for wear resistant.

7. Grooves/splines : straight, spiral

8. Vent

9. Jacket

10. Heaters
 D. Extrusion discharge
The cylindrical member which fits tightly around rotating
screw of extruder
Imp elements of extruder discharge:
1. Die head assembly
2. Breaker plate
3. Gate assembly
4. Dead volume
5. Die
6. Die plate
7. Die insert
8. Quick change dies or Breaker plates
9. Cutters: Fly or take-away cutters