Mini-Extruder

Summary

The Mini Extruder is a machine used to cook oilseeds or kernels by creating friction utilizing mechanical energy instead of heat or steam.  This product is a single-screw machine driven by a 7.5 HP motor that grinds seeds, creating friction and cooking seeds in a process rate of 40-50 kg of whole soybeans per hour.  Without steam or heat, the single screw is also lower cost.

Challenge/Problem

- Reliance on expensive imported cooking oil and oil cakes limits household consumption – Many developing nations rely on the importation of cooking oil and protein cakes due to limited in-country processing capacity, which negatively affects household consumption and nutrition for low-income families. Without lower cost solutions, low-income households face nutritional deficiencies that can increase infectious and chronic disease levels.

- Traditional processing methods are inefficient – Conventional methods of heating seeds involve steam-cooking or roasting, which requires significant energy use and the adaptation of facilities to withstand high heat from steam or roasting. Additionally, conventional solutions require a lot of space, which increases overhead costs for relying on these methods.

- Market needs for smaller and lower cost processing equipment – Small and medium sized processors in developing markets have smaller output requirements and are unable to scale to the size and cost of larger conventional processing options on the market.

Solution

- The targeted market for the Mini Extruders is small and medium sized food processors, based primarily in developing economies. One Mini Extruder can process 1 ton per day of soybeans, equivalent to approximately 250 acres per year. The investment required for this product is a fraction of the investment required for commercial-scale plants, making the Mini Extruder a very attractive and affordable option for smaller scale agricultural ventures in developing markets.

- The product is scalable with great potential for development impact. Local enterprises centered around the Mini Extruder can be easily replicated in various communities and for different oil seed products.

- This extruder was originally developed at Purdue University through research funded by NASA. The Mini Extruder is Commercially Available and manufactured and sold by  Technochem International, located in Boone Iowa. Technochem maintains distribution exclusivity for this specific extruder, with base models starting at approximately $20,000 USD.

- Partnership/Licensing opportunities are available for this product as Technochem is seeking partnerships with local processors. This technology is best leveraged in a system that includes broader, complementary technologies that include milling and drying.

Results

- In 2019, the first enterprise in Senegal utilizing the Mini Extruder produced nearly 200 tons of flour with a market value of around US$ 300,000.

- The income generated by this business was found to positively impact more than 1000 women, several hundred of whom are now involved in product sales. 

- Interviews conducted with the women revealed that whilst the largest use for this additional income was towards education of their children, there was evidently a significant nutritional impact as 66% also used it to purchase staple foods, and 25% and 19% to purchase meat and fruits and vegetables, respectively.

- The Matlaboul Fawzaini Hospital in Touba Senegal and its associated pharmacy started purchasing bags of instant flour in 2017 to send home with malnourished patients. The hospital and pharmacy currently purchase a total of 800 kg of flour every month but recently expressed a desire to increase their purchases by 20 percent (to one ton)

Lessons Learned/Potential for replication

Food processing can be used to make nutrient-fortified products tailored to local tastes and that improve nutrition through market access and affordability. Food processes that are technologically more difficult, such as extrusion, can be introduced best using an incubator system, such as the Hub-and-Spoke incubator that we developed. This system assures high and consistent quality nutritious products gain access to the market. In willingness to pay studies, consumers were found to be willing to pay somewhat more for both instant flours and improved nutrition. In a rural project in Niger, roasted fortified flours were also shown to capture a market and to enable a local rural women’s processing association to attain profitability with positive community impact.

Next Steps

Processors and Aggregators – The Mini Extruder can be marketed to small and medium sized processors and aggregators as a smaller scale processing technology to process oil and oil cakes in a rural or semi-urban setting.
 

Cooperatives and Farmer Associations – Cooperatives are ideal customers for the Mini Extruder as it is a small-scale yet efficient technology which provides value to cooperatives marketing unprocessed oil seeds and kernels.
 

Food and Feed Companies – The Mini Extruder is an attractive solution to food and feed companies for creating and testing new recipes and improving process parameters before scaling recipes to commercial scale plants.