Higher moisture level during extrusion processing of the increasingly commonly used plant-based diets require more energy for drying compared to fishmeal based diets. The use of protein based plasticizers opens up the possibility to obtain a satisfactory “cook” at reduced moisture level with a potential for significant reduction of the energy consumption.

At the 10th Aquafeed Horizons, Rafiq Ahmad, Industrial PhD candidate at Cargill Aqua Nutrition will explain how a study demonstrated that free amino acids and low molecular weight water-soluble peptides can replace moisture as a plasticizer in the extrusion process, offering the possibility to develop a new processing approach for the feed industry, serving multiple purposes, such as nutrient, plasticizer and binder in extruded fish feed. 

Aquafeed Horizons is Aquafeed.com’s international technical conference for the aquafeed sector. It will take place June 14, 2017 in Cologne, Germany as part of the new FVG Select Networking event. The full program is available at http://feedconferences.com.