Dry pasta lines are machines that make dry

pasta Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an Leavening agent, unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or Eggs as food, eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Pasta was originally on ...

products such as

spaghetti Spaghetti () is a long, thin, solid, cylindrical pasta.spaghetti
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Una ...

penne Penne () are an extruded type of pasta in the shape of tubular pieces with ends cut at an angle. They are usually made from wheat flour. Etymology ''Penne'' is the plural form of the Italian ''penna'' (meaning "feather", but "pen" as well), de ...

on a commercial scale, used for high-volume

continuous production Continuous production is a flow production method used to manufacture, produce, or process materials without interruption. Continuous production is called a continuous process or a continuous flow process because the materials, either dry bu ...

ranging from 500 to 8,000 kg per hour capacity. A typical dry pasta line consists of an

extruder Extrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross-sectional profile by pushing material through a die of the desired cross-section. Its two main advantages over other manufacturing processes are its ability to create very complex ...

and a dryer.Hoseney, R. Carl. ''Principles of Cereal Science and Technology'', 2nd Edition (St. Paul, Minnesota: American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc., 1986, 1994 and second printing 1998), Pages 325-26. Modern machines are highly automated using

programmable logic controller A programmable logic controller (PLC) or programmable controller is an industrial computer that has been ruggedized and adapted for the control of manufacturing processes, such as assembly lines, machines, robotic devices, or any activity that ...

s. They are called "lines" because they contain a series of processing machines through which the dough passes. It is common for dry pasta lines to run continuously for up to six weeks, with packaging done in shifts.

Extruder

Automatic short cut dry pasta production machine built by Consolidated Macaroni Machine Corporation 001

The

mixes flour and water to make

dough Dough is a malleable, sometimes elastic paste made from flour (which itself is made from grains or from leguminous or chestnut crops). Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includes ...

, kneads the dough and pushes it through a die to form the shape, and cuts the pasta to the correct length. Dry pasta lines typically use rectangular dies to extrude long goods pasta and round dies to extrude short goods pasta. The extruder typically uses a vacuum system in the mixing process to keep air out of the dough.

Dryer

The dryer dries the pasta to the correct moisture level, typically using sticks or screens to transport pasta inside the dryer depending on the length of the product. Long goods pasta such as spaghetti is hung vertically from sticks and short goods pasta such as penne is placed on long horizontal conveyors with mesh screen belts. Long goods pasta takes about 6-9 hours to dry depending on the temperature used in the drying process, and short goods pasta takes about 3-4 hours. Air circulation, heat and moisture control are critical factors to the pasta drying process.

Post drying

Manufacturers can store and package pasta in many ways after drying. After drying is complete, long pasta is usually stored in a section of the line called the accumulator, which holds the sticks with strands of pasta until it is further processed. The sticks are conveyed to a section called the "stripper", which removes the pasta from the stick, trims the strands to the correct length, and conveys it for further processing, such as a packaging machine. Finished short cut pasta is usually held in large storage silos until it is packaged or boxed. Each shape of pasta is stored in a separate silo.

Notes

{{Reflist Commercial machines Pasta industry

Extruder

Dryer

Post drying

See also

Notes