Revista de Ingeniería

revinge | eISSN 2011-0049 | ISSN 0121-4993

Equipment for the Ecological Washing of Degraded Mucilage by Natural Fermentation

No. 33 (2011-01-01)
  • C.E. Oliveros-Tascón
    aPh.D. en Ingeniería Agrícola. Investigador Principal, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones de café (CENICAFÉ). Chinchiná, Caldas, Colombia. Carlos.Oliveros@cafedecolombia.com
  • J.R. Sanz-Uribe
    bPh.D. en Ingeniería Mecánica. Investigador Científico II, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones de café (CENICAFE). Chinchiná, Caldas, Colombia. JuanR.Sanz@cafedecolombia.com
  • E.C. Montoya-Restrepo
    cMsc. en Investigación de Operaciones. Investigador Científico III, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones de café (CENICAFÉ). Chinchiná, Caldas, Colombia. EstherCecilia.Montoya@cafedecolombia.com
  • C.A. Ramírez-Gómez
    dArquitecto. Investigador Científico I, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones de café (CENICAFÉ). Chinchiná, Caldas, Colombia. CesarA.Ramirez@cafedecolombia.com
https://doi.org/10.16924/revinge.33.7

Abstract

An up-flow coffee-bean washer with radial fluids discharge was evaluated following a 2 by 3 factorial design; two washed coffee bean flow rates (1.250 and 1.750 kg.h-1) and three water flow rates (3, 4 and 5 L.min-1), with 5 experimental units per treatment. The best performance of the equipment was obtained with a washed coffee bean flow of 1.750 kg.h-1 and a water flow rate of 5 L.min-1, reaching mucilage removal of 95,11 %, specific water consumption of 0,32 L.kg cps-1, mechanical damage of 0,51 % and specific power requirement of 1,01 W.h. kg-1 of washed coffee.

Keywords: Coffea Arábica, coffee washing, fermentation, mechanical washing, wet coffee processing