Analysis of inventions, products, technologies and equipment for the extrusion process of plant raw material

The article deals with the theoretical foundations of the extrusion process. Food extrusion can be defined as the process of mixing, homogenizing and shaping low moisture food materials and more recently high moisture food materials into intermediate or finished products by forcing them through a specially designed die. The word "extrude" comes from the Latin words "ex" (to come out) and "trudere" (to push out). Food extrusion is a state of the art high temperature short time cooking process with several other single operations such as kneading, heating, mixing and shaping in one unit. Food extrusion processing is widely used to restructure starch and protein-based food materials to produce a variety of ready-to-eat breakfast cereals: bread substitutes and pet food. The general technology for the production of extruded food products and the type of a single-screw food extruder are given. The purpose of the study was to systematize and analyze patent data on the extrusion process in the food industry. The study analyzed, systematized and summarized 79 patents on equipment, technology and products using the extrusion process. It was revealed that 46.8% of applicants are located on the territory of the Russian Federation, in 50.6% of patent documents, grain and flour is used as vegetable raw materials. The maximum number of patents were issued in 2016. The technology of products that are themselves or raw materials subjected to the extrusion process has the greatest weight in percentage terms.