Coperion Donates New Extruder to Purdue’s Department of Food Science

Michael Costa

Within the Department of Food Science is the Food Entrepreneurship and Manufacturing Institute (FEMI) which is a student organization overseen by Associate Professor Dharmendra Mishra, operating the pilot plant and adjacent commercial kitchen. FEMI also works with emerging brands that opt to use Purdue’s facilities to scale up product development, in addition to student startup projects.

“Purdue and Coperion already have companies eager to sign up for the use of the extruder, from smaller startup companies to large corporations,” says Allison Kingery, executive director, Life Science and Agriculture at Purdue University. “The addition of the extruder to the test lab will not only open opportunities for the testing of products but also will allow the study of the final extruded product to be used in the kitchen and basically bring the product to life—a full 360-degree loop from development to research and design. Nutritional analysis will also be done at the university from the products produced by the extruder.”

See how MyForest Foods turns mycelium into plant-based bacon.

One of the main uses for the new extruder—a hybrid, twin-screw Coperion ZSK 27—will be to experiment with different formulations for plant-based proteins, which can be made in two different varieties: high-moisture meat analogues (HMMA), and texturized vegetable proteins (TVP). Students demonstrated the new extruder’s plant-based capabilities the day of the donation, creating HMMA blocks that were shredded on a nearby Urschel slicer, and later cooked in the adjacent commercial kitchen to create samples of Korean BBQ, spring rolls, and plant-based sliders for attendees.

Raw ingredients and extruded HMMA and TVP plant-based protein on display at Purdue University's Department of Food Science.Michael Costa

A Purdue student dishes Korean BBQ made from HMMA plant protein for attendees at the Coperion/Hillenbrand donation event.Michael Costa

The hybrid Coperion ZSK 27 is equipped with both a Coperion ZGF centric food pelletizer for TVP or a cooling die for HMMA, and the extruder’s discharge can be switched using an adapter depending on which protein is created. The machine also features Coperion LIW feeders for powder and liquid loading.