Bühler Nutrex Series 7: Flexibility and Stability to Meet the New Demands of Pet Food 

'The development of Nutrex Series 7 responds to a clear transformation in the market. Pet food and aquaculture feed manufacturers need to produce increasingly diverse portfolios, with new raw materials and formulations, while maintaining consistent quality, high safety standards and competitive costs,' explains Jorge Guzmán, Sales Director at Bühler.

Nutrex Series 7 was developed as a twin-screw extrusion platform designed to respond to these demands through process flexibility, automation and a design focused on hygiene and ease of operation.

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Flexibility For an Increasingly Broad Product Offering

'In pet food, the challenge is no longer simply to produce more, but to manage an increasingly broad product offering. Premium and functional products, diets for different ages and needs, new protein sources and multiple formats, all in a cost-sensitive market,' says Guzmán.

To respond to this diversity, Nutrex Series 7 allows manufacturers to work with different raw materials and formulations, facilitating trials, recipe changes, and the development of products with different shapes, textures and properties. The platform also features flexible and customizable configurations, allowing it to adapt to different applications and production requirements.

This capability is particularly relevant for manufacturers that need to expand their offering without having to introduce a different solution for each type of product.

Marketplace

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Control For Reproducible Production

Portfolio diversification also increases the need to maintain stable process parameters. In this area, the automation of Nutrex Series 7 is designed to reduce variations and facilitate production monitoring.

'We developed a new control system to achieve smarter, safer and more stable production,' explains Guzmán. The system provides reliable data, monitors critical control points, and integrates interfaces with third-party systems. It also provides operator guidance and early alerts to facilitate decision-making.

The control system incorporates a 24-inch HMI suitable for wet cleaning, real-time process visualization, customizable KPI indicators, browser-based access, and integrated food safety functions.

Hygiene Integrated into the Design

In pet food production, hygiene is another key element. Nutrex Series 7 was developed in accordance with EHEDG guidelines and features stainless steel construction and wet-cleaning systems. According to Bühler, these features can reduce cleaning time by up to 50%, increasing equipment availability.

The system allows cleaning to be carried out directly at the installation site, without the need to dismantle or move the equipment. It includes four access points for a high-pressure cleaning lance, water drainage through the feed screw bypass and an integrated heating system for drying the product chambers.

The design also considers extrusion as a validated microbiological inactivation step, also known as kill step.

A Platform Prepared for the Evolution of Pet Food

Market developments point toward a greater presence of premium and functional products, customized recipes, and new combinations of ingredients, formats, and textures. For production plants, this means the need to combine adaptability with industrial control.

In Nutrex Series 7, this approach is also reflected in the two-stage preconditioner, which controls moisture, temperature and processing time to achieve a uniform mixture and supports more stable and efficient extrusion. Bühler indicates that the system can reduce the extruder's mechanical load by up to 50%.

'In summary, Nutrex 7 offers aquaculture feed and pet food producers a versatile, future-ready platform capable of turning new market trends into concrete opportunities for innovation, efficiency and growth,' Guzmán concludes.
 

Learn more about Nutrex Series 7 and Bühler's solutions for pet food production at https://www.buhlergroup.com/global/es/products/twin-screw_extrusionsystemnutrex7series.html?cid=Website__HN-aac-CAM.

Source: All Pet Food