Extrusion vs. Expansion: A Salesman’s Perspective
Over the past decades of my time at Insta-Pro, I have had the pleasure of developing many long-term successful partnerships with many of our customers throughout Canada and the US. And with these partnerships, one question I hear a lot from soy processors is “What is the product and process difference between an extruder and an expander?”
An expander is similar to an extruder, but it generates less shear, pressure, and temperature in the barrel. Some manufacturers will use the term extrusion to describe the same process as expansion because you are pushing product through a die. However, extrusion creates a shearing force that is a key factor in the deactivation of anti-nutritional factors, microbial sterilization, the release of natural antioxidants, and ultimately, an increase in the digestibility of nutrients.
To understand the difference in processes, we frequently partner with universities to conduct research trials. An example of comparing extrusion and expanding can be seen in the chart below showing the Amino Acid digestibility of full-fat soy fed to chicks. When comparing high-shear extrusion vs. expansion, the results show 8% lower amino acid digestibility of the full-fat soy. This is a result of the lower barrel temperature and pressure of the expander.
As a business partner, I have the pleasure of visiting with customers and sharing research information that allows them to optimize their equipment and continue to meet their customers’ protein needs. When I am asked by a customer or prospect to respond to a company’s claim that their process is the same as our ExPress® process, I ask whether they have seen their animal feed research results and verified that they are not a copy of the research conducted under Insta-Pro’s third-party agreements. If you are able to get their feeding results, compare them with ours. I am confident you will see that the high-shear system produces a higher-quality product for feeding.
