See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/266385695

Instant coffee with natural aroma by spray-drying.

Conference Paper · January 1993

CITATIONS
READS
2
3,400

5 authors, including:

Denisley Bassoli
Starbucks Coffee Company
37 PUBLICATIONS 358 CITATIONS

All content following this page was uploaded by Denisley Bassoli on 01 April 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 INSTANT COFFEE WITH NATURAL AROMA
BY SPRAY-DRYING

D. G. BASSOLI, A. P. SUMI, Y. AKASHI, H. UCHIDA, A. S. De CASTRO

CIA. Iguagu De Caf6 Soldvel, Brazil

N. OHTANI, T. OBAYASHI, M. NAKAYAMA, A. SHIGEKANE, Y. TAMURA, M.

TOMITA Morinaga Milk Industry Co. Ltd., Japan

M. TAKAHASHI, N. NARUI
Morinaga Engineering Co. Ltd., Japan

1.BACKGR0UND

Instant coffee is made by processing coffee beans through the following

steps: roasting, grinding, extraction, concentration, drying and packing. As
the result of recent technological improvements in extraction,
concentrationffreeze concentr— ation, reverse osmosis), recovering and adding
aroma, it has become possible to produce high quality extract. The method of
drying coffee has a significant impact on those characteristics which are
considered important for instant coffee: flavour, moisture, color, density,
solubility, particle size distribution and powder flowability.

Freeze drying and spray drying are the most frequently used methods for
producing instant coffee. With freeze drying, concentrated coffee extract is
frozen and then milled, and the granules so obtained are sifted to ensure
uniform size.The next step is vacuum drying. Because the moisture sublimates.
there is very little change in the aroma characteristics caused from
heating or oxidation. However. there is some aroma losses due to the
necessary long exposure time. The instant coffee produced by this method is
rather expensive because of the high costs for both equipment and energy.
Spray drying is the other major processing technique. Concentrated coffee extract

712 ASIC, i 5e colloque, Montpellier, 1993

 Teclinol 8ie

is atomized inside a drying chamber where the water is removed by contact

with air at temperatures ranging from 200 to 300 . Multi—nozzles are
often used in this spraying technique to pressure-atomize the extract,
generating concentrated coffee extract droplets that will be dried to the
final powder. Better energy efficiency and controllability of physical
properties for instant coffee producti— on are achieved with this method.
This technique permits large scale production and resu It s in a product wi th low
densi ty and good f 1o• abi lty . Because of the relatively simple equipment,
production costs are low. The disadvantages are the aroma losses and the
caramel flavor imparted to the product.

2 . I NTRODUCT I ON

lmprovement of aroma retention has been shown in a comparison of conventional

high temperature spray dried product and freeze dried probuct. Freeze dried
product had 17% more low boiling point volatiles and T5% more high boiling
point volatiles than conventional spray dried product (1). There is also a
report that aroma retention of spray dried product can be improved by
increasing the soluble solids content and temperature of the liquid,
keeping a high temperature and a low relative humidity in the drying air,
and ensuring a larger droplet diameter (2).
Being somewhat sticky, instant coffee tends to adhere to the chamber
walls. Nhen this occurs. taste quality deteriorates due to longer exposure
to the high tempe-
ratures: also, scorched particles become mixed with the powder causing
further quality deterioration. In conventional high temperature spray drying
chambers, a portion of this spray may extend outside the downward hot air
flow in such a way that some powder will adhere to the chamber ceiling and
wall. Furthermore, due to the relative low volume of hot air, the particle
residence time inside the chamber is prolonged. creating conditions which
may overheat the product.
To perform the low temperature spray drying, a single nozzle with a spray
angle that fit the air vent opening was selected for use. As the drying
phenomenon occurs almost instantaneously, it was possible to adjust the hot
air flow within a certain range, as equired. The hot air vents were
constructed so as to direct the air flow in a manner that significantly
reduces the amount of powder coming in contact with the chamber ceiling and
wall.
In Fig.1, the pattern of liquid and air flow distribution in the spray—
drying chambers used for this experiment is shown; a comparison of the
various character— istics of each dryer is shown in Table l.
713
 Fig - 1 Co mparison oJ flow oT liquid and hot air

Table - 1 Co mparis on of s pray dryers

air

Conventiona I
hg h iemp. d‹ye r Low tern p. d ry er
No. of n ozze 4
Hot Air Temp. 200-300’C 30-180’C
Chamber Temp. 110-130’C 90-4 00‘C
Conventional Hot Air Vo I ume low h igh
high temp Low tenp. Hot air Flow swir linp rec1iTied
s pra y d ry e r spra y Press u re 30 k9/c m 2 30kg/c m2
spray dryer

This paper compares the aroma retention of product made with the single
nozzle low temperature spray—drying method , to that of product made using
both the conventi- onal high temperature spray-drying method and the freeze—
drying method

3 METHOD ANO MATERIAL

3.l.Materials
For this comparison, a blend of Arabica (70%) and Robusta (30%) cOffee
beans were roasted, ground and extracted, according to current industrial
techniques. The resulting extract was split into two parts. 0ne was freeze
concentrated (T.S.30%), then dried using three methods: conventional high
temperature spray drying ( hot air at 270’c), low temperature spray drying
(hot air at 140, 160 and 180 ’c),
and freeze drying. The second part was thermally concentrated (T.S.43%) and
spray dried using conventional high temperature spray drying (hot air at
270’C), and low
temperature spray drying (hot air at 140 c )

3 2 Analytical method of aroma

The materials, concentrated coffee extract or powder, were pre—treated
either by adsorption onto TENAX, or by purge and trap techniques After
this, the volatiles were quickly heated to 200a and automatically
injected into a gas-chromatograph equipped with flame ionization
detector.
714
 Technologie

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4 . 1 . Aroma retent ion coupar i son

The mentioned analytical procedure was applied to compare aroma retention of
extr— act obtained by freeze concentration with that of products dried using
the methods below:

(a) conventional high temperature spray

drying
(b) low temperature spray
OVE RALL A ROM keez e Oncentra:ed extrecl
A
drying The overall aroma
—+- |owlemp.spfaydr/(60V)
profile obtained by gas— —r- high Temp. spfay dy (270'C)

chromatography
is presented in Fig 2 for LOW BOILI N G ROAST NO i c
POINT VOLATIL (N-oonpouund)
various inlet drying air ES

temperatures, using freeze

concentrated extract as an
index (equal to 100). Results
show that ROAST
ACI DTY NOT E NOTE
aroma retention is much (Fuan)

greater for the instant

SWE ET NOTE
coffee produced by spray
drying at
low temperatures than for
the product dried at high
tempera—
tures. Evaluation by experienced tasters indicated that the conventional high
tem- perature dried product lacked body and had a caramel and burnt/over—
cooked aroma. Conversely, the low temperature spray dried product did not
have such characteris- tics, and the flavour was very close to the original
extract. The reason for the over-cooked aroma is thought to be high air
temperatures scorching of product which reduces the amount of low boiling
point volatiles, resulting in an imbalanced.
The aroma retention at low drying temperatures was higher. Air flow
rectification inside the chamber, and better cooling devices at the conical
bottom, are some features that might also have contributed to the
significant reduction of powder adhering to the chamber wall.

4.2.Effect of concentration method on aroma retention

To compare the dillerence in aroma retention between different extract
concentrat- ion methods, freeze concentrated and thermal concentrated extracts
were dried at
140 t and 2T0 t respectively. using the low temperature drying tower type
and the conventional drying tower type. Fig.3, shows the aroma retention of
products produced under the above-mentioned conditions.

715
 Fig-3 Co mparis o n ol aro ma reten I io n - by co n cent ra I i on meth o ds

Ar o m a r e I en I l
on A ro m a re I en lio n
(%)
00 80 60 40 20 0 0 20 40 60 fl0 00

The freeze concentreted extract was indexed as 100% Thermal concentrated

extract was 40%.The low temperature dried product had the higher aroma
retention for extracts concentrated by either heating or freezing process
compared to the other method The aroma retention level of
the low temperature spray dried product is higher than that of the thermal
concentrated extract From these results, it is
thought that because aroma is lost during high temperature spray
drying.Thermally concentration also cause significant aroma loss Using high
quality raw materials and extract, production of powder with a high degree
of aroma retention could be effectively achieved through combination of
freeze concentration and low temperat— ure spray drying, it is speculated.

4 3 Effect of drying method on aroma retention

In order to compare the differences in aroma retention between drying
methods, two portions of freeze concentrated extract were dried by freeze
drying and spray
drying at 140 t The so-obtained powders were analysed and compared with the
ori— ginal extract (the extract was indexed as 100) The
results are shown in Fig 4
716
 Teclinologie

Fi“g -4 to mpa ris o n o I low Dolli'n g p oint vo/atiles - by drying me th od

A r om a re I e n iio n
Aroma retention for
20 40
low temperature spray
dried product and fre Freeze
concentrated
etract
— eze dried product
were
69% and 5T%,
respectively
It is thought that the •wtemp.spray
d d
aroma retention level of ”'° ’”
the free ze dr ied product

is I ower than that of 1Oi^f

freezec d I ie d
I caper a ture spray dr ied ’°‘* '
product because of the
large aroma loss resulting from the long vacuum drying time needed for freeze
drying. This long time is required because the maximum concentration level that
can be achieved by freeze concentration is less than that of thermal
concentrated extract. From the results obtained, it can be concluded that low
temperature spray drying is also effective for drying extracts with low solids
concentration,
demons treted in the tests such by better aroma r etent ion.

5 . CONCLUS IONS

1 Qualitywise, the product spray dried in the low temperature drying

chamber has proved to have much more natural taste, being closer to the
original extract independent of whether such extract was thermally or freeze
concentrated. It also lacks caramel and burnt/over-cooked flavour notes that
are present in the powder produced by the conventional high temperature
spray drier.

2.Aroma retention in the product made by the low temperature spray drying
method
1 s super ior to that obtained i n the product made by the convent i ona1 high tempera—
ture spray drying me thod .

3 Even when compared with an equivalent freeze dried coffee, the powder
obtained by low temperature drying exhib2ts better aroma retention
Part4cuiariy, the
retention was greater for an extract with low solids content, such as
freeze con— centrated
coffee extract
717
 References:
(1) Flink, J. : Freeze Drying and Adv. Food Tech. (Goldblith, S.A. ,et
dl.eds.), Academic Press (1975).
(2) Kerahof.P.J.A.M.: Adv. Preconcentration and Dehydration of Foods,
Applied Sci. Pub.,London, P.349 (19T4)
(3) Barnett, S.: Spray & freeze drying of coffee extract. Proc. 4th
Int. Dry. Symp. (1984) Vol 2

SUNNARY

Recently, for the purpose of preserving aroma,freeze concentrating and

freeze drying have been applied to coffee extract to produce an instant
coffee powder of higher quality. However, one drawback is thai such drying
is very expensive On
the other hand, although the cost of the original high temperature spray
drying is quite low, {his method most adversely affects the quality.
To overcome these weak points, aroma re{eniion of product made with a
single nozzle low temperature spray drying system has been studied.
Qualiiywise, the product spray dried in the low temperature drying
chamber has proved to have much more natural Waste, being closer to the
original extract independent of whether such extract was ihermally or
freeze concentrated. It also lacks caramel and burnt/over—cooked flavour
notes {hat are present in the powder produced by the conventional high
temperature spray dryer Aroma retention in the product made
by the low temperture spray-drying method is superior to that obtained io the
product made by the conventional high temperature spray-drying method.
718