Mars, Incorporated

Mars UK Limited

Karina Wehrle

Christopher Abbott

Kamyar Nabavi

Peter Gibbs

A process for the production of crumb is disclosed in which a wet crumb feedstock comprising bulk sweetener, protein and water is formed and then simultaneously dried and comminuted in a thin layer rotary paddle dryer (). The wet crumb feedstock is preferably formed into discrete, free-flowing granules prior to the simultaneous drying and comminuting. Apparatus for the production of crumb is also disclosed.

Crumb process

An extrudercomprises a barreland a screwmounted in the barrel for rotation. The screw comprises screw threads. The barrel has an inlet funneltoward one end for material to be extruded and a die platewith openingsat the other end and an air inlet porttoward one end of the barrel and an air outlet porttoward the other end. The screw threads are such that materialin the barrel is moved more quickly along the portion of the barrel between the air inlet port and the air outlet port than upstream of that portion. The air outlet is connected to a pumpso that there is a pressure difference between the air inlet and the air outlet.

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Slough, United Kingdom

Karina Wehrle