Abstract

Broken rice flour was added in proportions (75%) to equal amount of dehydrated pineapple waste pulp powder and red gram powder (12.5%) were extruded in a twin-screw extruder. The formulation was extruded at different moisture content (17-21%), screw speed (260-340 rpm) and die temperature (120-140°C). The lateral expansion, bulk density, water absorption index, water solubility index, hardness and sensory characteristics were measured as responses. In the experiments, increase in barrel temperature resulted in extrudate with higher expansion, higher hardness, lower bulk density, lower WSI and higher WAI. Increasing in screw speed resulted in higher expansion, lower bulk density, higher overall acceptability and lower hardness; whereas, increasing level of moisture resulted in lower hardness, lower expansion and minimum bulk density and higher overall acceptability. In the experiment, optimization studies resulted in 132.27°C of barrel temperature, 315 rpm of screw speed and 18.48% of feed moisture.

Key words: Twin screw extrusion, pineapple waste pulp, response surface methodology (RSM), broken rice flour, red gram powder.