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An Environmentally Sound Technology for Coffee Washing

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  2012 Dallas, Texas, July 29 - August 1, 2012  121340868.(doi:10.13031/2013.41986)
Authors:   Carlos E OLIVEROS-TASCÓN, Juan R SANZ-URIBE, Cesar RAMÍREZ-GÓMEZ
Keywords:   Key words Coffee washing, fermentation, wet coffee processing, sound technology

The objective of this research was to determine the best operation conditions of an equipment designed to wash coffee whose mucilage is degraded by natural fermentation. It was used a 2 x 3 factorial design: two washed coffee flows (1,250 and 1,750 kg/h) and three water flows (3, 4 and 5 L/min), with 5 experimental units per treatment, each one of 100 kg of pulped coffee that remained 16 h in a fermentation tank. The best performance of the equipment is obtained with a washed coffee flow of 1,750 kg/h and a water flow of 5 L/min, obtaining a mucilage removal of 95.1%, a specific water consumption of 0.32 L/kg of dry parchment coffee, a mechanical damage of 0.51% and a specific power of 1.01 W.h/kg of washed coffee. The specific water consumption is reduced by 92.2% compared to the lowest value observed in the natural fermentation process. Fluids obtained with the washer can be dried up to a moisture content of 10 to 12% using solar dryers, obtaining organic fertilizer and controlling 100% of the pollution generated by the wet process.

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