Modeling thermal and mechanical effects on retention of thiamin in extruded foods

A model was proposed to predict separate thermal and mechanical effects of extrusion cooking on thiamin retention. Thermal effects were determined by heating small samples of wheat flour mixed with 0.30% (wt/ wt) thiamin hydrochloride isothermally at 140 degreesC, 151 degreesC, and 161 degreesC for different times. The calculated activation energy and rate constants at each temperature were 67.28 kJ/g mol and 0.00869/min, 0.0145/min, and 0.0224/min, respectively. The "extruder constant" was estimated as 27.7/rev, based on a matching-viscosity method. Wheat flour with 0.30% (wt/wt) thiamin was extruded at different screw speeds. Mechanical effects caused 89.7% to 94.4% of total thiamin loss. This research provides a generalized method to "fingerprint" the extrusion process.