Decaffeination Process CO2 Process
This process of extraction of caffeine is called CO2 method or Liquid Carbon Dioxide method or Supercritical Carbon Dioxide method but it is technically known as Supercritical Fluid Extraction. In basic terms - the supercritical CO2 acts selectively on the caffeine, releasing the alkaloid and nothing else. Water-soaked coffee beans are placed in an extraction vessel. The extractor is then sealed and supercritical CO2 is forced into the coffee at pressures of 1,000 pounds per square inch to extract the caffeine. The CO2 acts as the solvent to dissolve and draw the caffeine from the coffee beans, leaving the larger-molecule flavor components behind. The caffeine-laden CO2 is then transferred to another container called the absorption chamber where the pressure is released and the CO2 returns to its gaseous state and evaporates, leaving the caffeine behind. The caffeine is removed from the CO2 using charcoal filters, and the caffeine free CO2 is pumped back into a pressurized container for reuse on another batch of beans.
Water Extraction Decaffeination Process
This is a natural water decaffeination process. This method of extraction of caffeine is also known as Swiss Water Process. This method is based solely on water and carbon filtration. In this process a batch of Green coffee beans and pure water are loaded together into a tank that is agitated or stirred. This mixture is heated to the temperature set to start the extraction process. Pure water H2O is a solvent but it is not a selective solvent to extract only caffeine from coffee beans. The water will extract almost all water soluble substances from coffee and the solution obtained is composed of coffee flavors and caffeine. The beans are discarded, and the resulting flavor-rich water (called “green coffee extract”) is passed through a carbon filter that is sized to capture only the large caffeine molecules. That decaffeinated green coffee extract is then used to wash another batch of coffee beans. Since the green coffee extract is already loaded with the water-soluble extracts of the coffee beans, this time, only the caffeine is extracted from the new set of beans, without losing any of the flavors and oils from the beans. The washing step is repeated until most of the caffeine has been extracted from the beans. The solution now deprived of the caffeine is still rich of coffee aromas which are sent back favoring the caffeine stripped coffee. After this stage, the residual aqueous solution is concentrated to suitable conditions without the caffeine. When full concentration of flavors in the solution is reached, the reincorporation phase begins. This stage consists in putting the coffee in contact with the concentrated solution in suitable conditions to facilitate penetration of the flavoring in the coffee bean, thus reintroducing the beans original flavor extracted beforehand. The coffee is then dried and cooled. Finally the aroma rich coffee is bagged again. This is the primary method used to decaffeinate organic coffee beans.
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