Journal of Food Engineering 340 (2023) 111301

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Food Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Influence of particle size distribution on espresso extraction via packed

bed compression
Mauricio Vaca Guerra a, *, Yogesh M. Harshe b, Lennart Fries c, Sophia Rothberg a, Stefan Palzer d,
Stefan Heinrich a
a
Institute of Solids Process Engineering and Particle Technology, Hamburg University of Technology, Denickestraße 15, 21073, Hamburg, Germany
b
Nestlé Research, Route Du Jorat 57, CH-1000, Lausanne 26, Switzerland
c
Nestlé R&D, Beijing, China
d
Nestlé S.A., Avenue Nestlé 55 CH-1800, Vevey, Switzerland

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Espresso extraction is a diffusion-convection process involving both intra-granular pores, and the intergranular
Espresso extraction pores of the packed bed. Bed hydrodynamics and overall end-cup quality are governed by the bulk porosity, set
Particle size distribution by the dry coffee bed compression before extraction. In this work, the impact of the initial bed compression on
Packed bed compression
the water permeability during espresso extraction is studied. Coarse fractions of the bimodal coffee particle size
Dry bed porosity
Permeability
distributions were characterized by the particle mean size α and the size uniformity β of the distribution. It was
found that under the same axial compression lower bed porosities were obtained with decreasing size uniformity
β, even at larger mean size α. A model was developed to predict the dry packed bed porosity. Extraction ex­
periments confirmed that low permeability desired during espresso brewing was found not to be exclusive to
distributions with low mean particle sizes. Rather, it can also be achieved by tuning compression force, α, and β
together. A modified Kozeny-Carman expression was derived to explain and predict the observed permeability
results.

1. Introduction
Coffee is one of the most traded and consumed commodities
worldwide. Among all the existing brewing methods, espresso is char­
acterized by percolating hot water (90 ± 5◦ C) through a dense-packed
bed of roasted and finely ground coffee under high pressure (Illy and
Viani, 2005). During this process, a large number of intercorrelated
parameters determine the extraction of the soluble material from the
surface and the pores of coffee particles (Petracco, 2001). Apart from the
solubilization of the hydrophilic substances, further phenomena take
place like emulsification of coffee oils (Illy and Viani, 2005), suspension
of solid coffee cell-wall fragments (Illy and Navarini, 2011), and particle
swelling (Mateus et al., 2007). Nonetheless, a crucial step in espresso
brewing, to which less attention has been paid in previous research, is
the compression of the coffee packed bed, also known as tamping.
Usually, for a 60 mm portafilter a tamping force from 30 × 103 up to 70
× 103 Pa (130–200 N) is employed to compress the bed (Petracco,
2005). This tamping force must be sufficient to provide the right initial
bed porosity conditions to achieve the characteristic low extraction flow
rate. Ground coffee particles are known for having a bimodal distribu­
tion (Petracco, 2005). The wide range of particle sizes (20 μm–490 μm
range for espresso extraction) together with the deviation from ideal
spheres allows the particles, when compressed, to form a highly dense
arrangement in a packed bed of coffee powder. The high heterogeneity
of particle shapes and sizes of coffee particles collective can be seen in
Fig. 1. During brewing, the highly dense bed is responsible for the bed
permeability reported in a range of 8 × 10− 13 to 3 × 10− 14 m2 (Corro­
chano et al., 2015), indicated by a high-pressure buildup as water per­
colates through the bed.
Espresso extraction is a convection-diffusion process. The extracted
components diffuse in the internal voids and stagnant liquid in the vi­
cinity of coffee particles and then will be carried with the bulk flow in
the intergranular pores. Hence, the permeability of the packed bed
governs the convection part of the process, thus determines the water
flow velocity and residence time inside the packed bed, which in turn
defines the extraction yield and the final cup composition.
The understanding and description of the espresso coffee extraction
have been the focus of interest during the recent years in the scientific

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mauricio.vaca@tuhh.de (M. Vaca Guerra).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2022.111301
Received 14 June 2022; Received in revised form 21 September 2022; Accepted 22 September 2022
Available online 26 September 2022
0260-8774/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
M. Vaca Guerra et al.
Fig. 1. SEM images of a dry coffee particle collective.
community. The published works have been dedicated to describing the
extraction process, especially regarding the optimization of the brew
quality (Moroney et al., 2015), (Ellero and Navarini, 2019), which has
been proven to be related to the extracted compound composition in the
final cup (Navarini et al., 2009). Several studies have confirmed that the
water temperature and particle size distribution, among all the other
variables, predominantly impact the extracted components composi­
tions. Lower extraction yields, associated with under-extraction, are
related to acid or sweet sensory profile, whereas higher extraction
yields, or over-extraction result in an astringent bitter profile (Petracco,
2001).
The main objective of more recent studies was to incorporate rele­
vant physical processes at the mesoscopic level, where numerical models
have been developed taking into account flow-induced migration of
fines (Ellero and Navarini, 2019), mechanical erosion (Mo et al., 2021)
and swelling of coffee particles (Mo et al., 2022). From these studies, it
can be concluded that coffee espresso percolation is a highly complex
process that involves flow through a dynamic and changing porous
media. However, the initial dry bed conditions, mainly the dry bed bulk
porosity and isotropic packing of different particle sizes, may determine
to which extent these phenomena affect the bed permeability. This
crucial primary parameter is determined during the compression of the
packed bed. Relevant studies have investigated the main parameters to
impact the bed flow permeability during espresso extraction (Navarini
et al., 2009), (Ellero and Navarini, 2019). Even the most detailed and
comprehensive work from Corrochano et al. (2015), which gained
important insights regarding the bed permeability during extraction,
and its dependence on bed bulk density arising from different particle
size distributions, does not consider the impact of particle size distri­
bution width, or the independent influence of the coarse fraction mean
size on the resulting packed bed porosity and permeability. To the best
of our knowledge, no previous work investigates the impact of the whole
particle size distribution on the packed bed compression in espresso
coffee brewing. Thus, the combined influence of particle size distribu­
tion, bed compression on packed bed porosity and permeability is still
not completely elucidated.
In this article, we (i) developed a model to predict the attainable
packed bed porosity as a function of particle size distribution under
compression and (ii) predicted the steady-state permeability from the
dry bed porosity, considering the impact of the particle size distribution.
2
Journal of Food Engineering 340 (2023) 111301
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Compression of granular packed beds
An empirical mathematical expression has been used (see equation
(1)) to model compressible packed bed reactors with different granular
materials (Verhoff and Furjanic, 1983):
ε0 = ωe− φσ
(1)
which, to the first order corresponds to equation (2):
ω
ε0 = (2)
1 + φσ
where ε0 is the obtained bed porosity from compression, ω (initial bed
porosity) and φ (intrinsic compression factor) are constants obtained
from experimental data for different granular materials. The variable σ is
the bed axial compression stress. In the above-mentioned works (Verhoff
and Furjanic, 1983), these parameters were obtained experimentally
under the assumption that the decrease in bed volume as a function of
pressure is due to loss in void volume.
The container wall has a considerable influence on the compression
of the packed beds, acting as a resistance force as a function of
compression axial stress. This parameter is intrinsic to every granular
material and will depend on the diameter of the powder container
(McCabe and Smith, 1976). However, the wall effect can be neglected if
the bed-particle diameter ratio is larger than 5, under the assumption of
a homogeneous bed (Di Felice and Gibilaro, 2004). In this work, the
compression of coffee particles will be evaluated in three different vessel
diameters and two wall materials to validate this assumption. Granular
compression is also impacted by other factors, mainly related to the
particle size distribution width. The influence of particle size poly­
dispersity on the granular packing under compression has been widely
studied for different granular materials. Annabattula et al. (2012)
studied the micromechanical behavior of binary and polydispersed
spherical pebbles using a DEM approach and found that mono-sized
assemblies show a larger resistance to compression compared to bi­
nary and polydispersed assemblies.
Sohn et al. (Sohn and Moreland, 1968) reported that packing den­
sities of binary mixtures increase with the mean size ratios of the com­
ponents. The authors found a maximum value of packing density at
55–75% of the larger component fractions.
These works underlined the dependence of the micromechanical
properties, thus the resulting bulk density on the particle size distribu­
tion of granular packed beds under uniaxial compression.
2.2. Packing of bimodal distributions
The bulk porosity of bimodal distribution of spherical particle col­
lective was characterized by Brouwers et al. (Brouwers, 2006). The
authors developed a model to predict the minimum attainable bulk
porosity depending on the large and small particles fraction and the
corresponding size ratio of the bimodal distribution, however for gran­
ular materials other than coffee. Accordingly, the bimodal void fraction
in packing theory depends on the diameter ratio as defined in Equation
(3):
u=
dL
(3)
ds
where dL and ds are the coarse and fine diameters of a binary mixture of
particles respectively; and the ratio from Equation (4) as follows:
M. Vaca Guerra et al. Journal of Food Engineering 340 (2023) 111301

r=
cL
(4)
cs
where cL and cs are the coarse and fine fractions, in relation to the total
number of particles in the binary mixture.
Considering the packed bed as a continuous size distribution pack­
ing, we studied the effect of coarse to fine mean sizes ratio (equivalent to
u) on the espresso bed packing, while keeping the volume fraction of
small to large particles, analogous to r, constant.
2.3. Packed bed permeability models
The steady-state permeability of a coffee packed bed for an extrac­
tion process can be described by Darcy’s law according to Equation (5).
KA
Q= ΔP (5)
μL
where Q (ml/s) is the volumetric flow rate, A the cross-section area in
the axial direction, μ the fluid viscosity (Pa s), ΔP (Pa) is the pressure
drop across the bed, and K (m2) is the permeability of the porous me­
dium. Darcy’s law is valid for low Reynolds numbers (Rep < 10) where
the relevant length scale concerns the pore size of the bed. The packed
permeability is an exclusive function of particle size (Carman, 1997),
and can be determined with the Kozeny-Carman Equation (6):
ε3bed
K= (6)
2τ2 Sv2 (1 − εbed )2
where εbed is the packed bed average bulk porosity, Sv the volume-
specific surface area of the packing granulate, and τ the tortuosity of
the bed, usually considered as 1.58. The volume-specific surface area is
estimated via the correlation to the Sauter diameter: Sv = 6/d3,2,
assuming spherical particles. This turns Equation 6 into a function of the
particle size distribution (see Equation (7)).
ε3bed d3,2
2 Q3 (x) = 1 − e
K= 2
(7)
180 (1 − εbed )
filterability of the cakes.
2.4. Roast and ground coffee
Dark roasted arabica coffee beans were ground with a EK43
(Mahlkönig, Germany) and a Vario Home (Mahlkönig, Germany)
grinders to produce the particle distributions with different mean sizes
and cumulative distribution characteristic shapes used in the
experiments.
A Camsizer (Retsch Technologies, USA) was used to measure the
particle size distributions of the dry coffee particles. For the measure­
ments, independent samples of approximately 4–5 g of ground coffee
were placed in the sample holder. To avoid any agglomerates, the coffee
particles were dispersed in air flow through a Venturi nozzle before
reaching the measurement field. The dispersion pressure was set at 95
kPa using the built-in calibration of the apparatus.
A similar approach as the one proposed by Corrochano et al. (2015)
was used to determine the open and closed porosity and the intrinsic
solid density of the coffee particles. These parameters are needed to
determine the dry bed porosity according to Equation A.1. The detailed
description of the method can be found in Appendix A.
2.5. Characterization of the bimodal particle size distribution
For the characterization of the bimodal particle size distribution
(PSD), the particle size diameter of 100 μm was defined as threshold
value to separate the fines from the coarse fraction. This value was
selected from the nature of the bimodal distribution, where a clear
separation between the two main size groups can be identified. Rosin-
Rammler model was fitted to the coarse fraction (dp > 100 μm) in
each cumulative distribution fraction curve. The latter consists of a two-
parameter exponential model as follows in Equation (8), (Vesilind,
1980):
( )β
− αx
(8)
where Q3 is the cumulative volume fraction, x is the particle size, α

where 180 is called the Kozeny-Carman prefactor, valid for mono-sized

and mono-dispersed spheres. The correction terms are usually included
to consider, for instance, deviations from ideally spherical particles as
follows ds = ψ d3,2 where ψ is the sphericity of the particles and ds is the
corrected particle size.
However, a significant error is found when using the Kozeny-Carman
equation having a bimodal or/and wide particle size distribution (Endo
et al., 2002). With the objective of addressing this issue for espresso
extraction, Corrochano et al. (2015) studied steady-state permeability of
the coffee bed by varying the bed bulk porosity and the coffee particle
size distribution. To predict the observed experimental results, the au­
thors proposed an empirical tortuosity term as compensation for the
Kozeny-Carman equation prediction deficiency. The interest in under­
standing the effect of particle size polydispersity on the flow through
porous media has led researchers to incorporate empirical mathematical
terms in existing models, validated by experiments (Allen et al., 2013).
Vidal et al. (2009) performed packed bed flow simulations using
Monte-Carlo and Lattice-Boltzmann methods to predict the permeability
of compressed calcium carbonate powders. The authors found that the
Kozeny-Carman correlation presents a large deviation with lower per­
meabilities when increasing the polydispersity of the particle packings, Fig. 2. Fitting results examples of the distribution coarse fraction using Equa­
and devised a modified correlation related only to the PSD properties tion (8) to obtain the particle mean size α and size uniformity factor β pa­
and with a slightly different porosity expression. rameters. The symbols correspond to three different particle size distribution
Kinnarinen et al. (2015) studied the dependence of filtration pressure measurements. The fitting of the coarse fraction was done over the indicated
on the calcium carbonate particle size distribution of filter cakes. The size limit of 100 μm. Distribution with a wider particle distribution have a lower
size uniformity β value and larger range of sizes, despite having the same α.
authors found that the average porosity of the cakes decreases with
Fines fraction (dp < 100 μm) were kept constant at 25 ± 4%.
increasing the width of the distribution. Additionally, their results
showed that finer particle mean sizes had a negative effect on

3
M. Vaca Guerra et al.
Fig. 3. Cumulative volume distributions Q3 used in the design of experiments.
Filled symbols are related to low size uniformity and empty symbols to high
uniformity distributions as follows α = 224 μm β = 1.95 (○), α = 224 μm, β =
1.40 (●) α = 296 μm, β = 1.95 (□), α = 296 μm, β = 1.40 (∎), α = 427 μm, β =
1.95 (△), α = 427 μm, β = 1.40 (▴).
volumetric mean particle size, and β is the size uniformity factor, that
characterizes the range of particles with different sizes as the mean α
value in the distribution. The lower values of β indicate a less mono­
dispersed distribution; hence a larger polydispersity of the particle col­
lective sizes is expected (see Fig. 2).
In this study, the focus was set on the effect of the coarse fraction
distribution. Fig. 2 shows an example of the fitting with Equation (8) to
the cumulative volume distribution of the coarse fraction (dp > 100 μm).
The two distributions with the same β have the same form and are
shifted by the mean particle size α. A lower size uniformity value β
corresponds to a modification in the distribution shape, by covering a
larger range of sizes, while having the same mean particle size α. The
average coefficient of determination R2 = 0.97 corresponds to all the
fitted cumulative distributions using this approach, indicating suit­
ability of fitted equation to the PSD.
2.6. Bed compression experiments
Design of experiments. The design of experiments for the β and α
parameter study was set up and evaluated using DesignExpert 12
(StateEase®). For compression experiments the objective was to perform
an ANOVA analysis (p value < 0.05 as criteria) of the two PSD param­
eters and their inter-correlation to impact the packed bed compression.
Accordingly, the coefficients of determination parameters (R2, adjusted
R2 and predicted R2) were used to evaluate the predictability of the
obtained correlations.
Three different levels of mean particle size α in the limits of 224 μm
and 427 μm and a middle range of 296 μm were selected. Fines fraction
of the distribution (dp < 100 μm) was kept constant at 25 ± 4%. The
range of sizes corresponds to the most commonly studied particle sizes
for espresso brewing (Corrochano et al., 2015). For each of the three
coarse fraction mean size α, two different distributions with high and
low size uniformity (β = 1.95 and 1.4 respectively) were prepared using
two different mills. From preliminary measurements, the range of β was
determined to be a limit in which two distributions could have the same
mean size with different size uniformity. The six distributions are shown
in Fig. 3. To obtain the particle size distributions with these specific
properties a characterization of the two machines used for milling was
done. A detailed description of the method followed to obtain the PSDs is
4
Journal of Food Engineering 340 (2023) 111301
included in Appendix D. Three samples of every PSD were used for all
compression and permeability experiment repetitions.
Powder rheometer. Compressibility experiments of the coffee packed
bed were performed in a FT4 Powder Rheometer (Micromeritics
Freeman Technology,UK). The equipment setup allows to pre-condition
a known mass of particles in a precise volume of a vessel to determine
bulk density. An additional 25 mm diameter vessel of stainless steel was
built and integrated into the setup to simulate a usual espresso porta­
filter material. The measurements were carried out by applying
increasing levels of axial compression force with a piston to the condi­
tioned bed. The resulting bulk density is determined by the change of
volume as a function of the applied load detected in a load cell under the
vessel. The apparatus records the compression measurement values as
packed bed density once the force control has stabilized and causes no
further motion of the particles. The resulted bulk density values were
obtained for the six distributions at 2, 4, 7, 9, 15, 25, 40, 55, and 75 kPa.
The used compression stresses are considered within the range of typical
barista “tamping” range (30–60 kPa).
Texture analyzer. Validation of the compressibility measurements
was carried out separately in a Texture Analyzer (TA.XT plus, United
Kingdom) system. A support base was built to hold a 60 mm diameter
portafilter, which was subsequently used in the espresso machine for the
extraction experiments. An additional vessel from acrylic glass (Plex­
iglass®) material was included in the experiments to evaluate the impact
of the material’s wall friction on bed compression. The applied force
from the mechanical tester to the final bulk density was estimated with
an axial compression test from 50 to 350 N at a rate of 1 mm/s. The bed
length was measured for every imposed compression stress; then the
change in the bed porosity was determined as a function of compression
distance, under the assumption that the compression stress is constant
along the whole bed, and any decrease in bed volume is due to loss in the
bed porosity. Schematic representation of the bed compression experi­
ment setup and the respective elements, FT4 Powder Rheometer and the
Texture Analyzer are shown in Fig. 4.
2.7. Permeability experiments
Coffee machine system. For the extraction experiments, a portafilter
espresso machine (Bezzera BZ09, Italy) was modified and integrated
with a micro-controller and software for the control, monitoring, and
acquisition of extraction conditions. A portafilter basket with a diameter
of D = 5.9 cm and a height of H = 2.65 cm was used in all permeability
experiments. The temperature was measured with a thermocouple at the
top of the boiler and at the showerhead distributor; pressure drop was
recorded with a transducer located before the extraction portafilter (see
Fig. 5). The volume flow was measured with a flow meter located be­
tween the water container and the pump. All the data was recorded at a
0.5-s frequency.
The machine is equipped with a piston pump (ULKA N15, Germany).
The pump was characterized by measuring the volume flow at different
pressures from independent experiments. The curve was necessary for
the correct estimation of the permeability, hence the resulted volume
flow is limited by the capacity of the pump.
Special attention was set to the distance between the surface of the
compressed packed bed and the showerhead distributor in the coffee
machine. The coffee dosage was selected in order to ensure a constant
minimum distance between the bed and the shower. This reduces any
additional effects of water accumulation in the gap between the bed and
the shower.
Particle size distributions. Three PSDs from the compression experi­
ments were selected to study the impact on the bed permeability (see
Fig. 6). The criteria were based on the compression experiments, to
M. Vaca Guerra et al. Journal of Food Engineering 340 (2023) 111301

Fig. 4. a) Compression experiment setup at the FT4 powder rheometer; b) Texture Analyzer espresso portafilter system. In both systems, normal stress σ (Pa) was
applied and the resulting displacement distance in the same direction δh (mm) was measured.

Fig. 6. Selected PSDs for the extraction experiments at the espresso machine.
Fig. 5. Espresso machine setup diagram: Water container (1), flow meter (2),
Distribution A (○): lower limit α = 224 μm, β = 1.95 and d3,2= 102 μm; dis­
piston pump (3), pressure transducer (4), pressure security valve and water
tribution B (□): middle range size α = 296 μm, β = 1.95, and d3,2 = 126 μm;
recirculation (5), thermocouple (6), boiler (7), magnetic three way valve (8),
distribution C (▴): upper limit size α = 427 μm, β = 1.40 and d3,2 = 135 μm.
purge (9), grouphead thermocouple (10), shower and distributor (11), coffee
bed (12), portafilter bottom and grid (13).

Table 1
ensure that similar dry bed porosity could be attained at the same Particle size distributions used in the extraction experiments with their respec­
compression stress. High size uniformity distributions with small mean tive mean particle size α, size uniformity factor β, Sauter mean diameter d (Illy
sizes (α = 224 μm, β = 1.95) and larger mean size distributions with and Navarini, 2011; Petracco, 2001), fines fraction (>100 μm), and average
lower size uniformity (α = 427 μm, β = 1.40) were used in the experi­ sphericity factor ψ.
ments. A middle size range of α = 296 μm, β = 1.95 was included for Distribution α β d3,2 Fines fraction ψ
evaluation as well. Table 1 contains a summary of the values for the – μm – μm % –
three distributions. A 224 1.95 101.7 30.03 0.80
B 296 1.95 131.6 24.00 0.79
Steady-state extraction conditions. The initial extraction temperature
C 427 1.40 135.5 25.45 0.79
was set at 88 ± 2 ◦ C, and the total brewed coffee was 50 g (double
espresso) throughout all experiments. The rest of the extraction condi­
tions, such as pressure drop and volume flow were monitored. Espresso permeability (see Fig. 7). With this approach, the consistency of the
extraction undergoes a transient regime, in which the flow that is rela­ resulting extraction flow can be also evaluated.
tively high during the first seconds, decreases simultaneously with an
increase of pressure drop until a final considerably constant value is 3. Results and discussion
reached (Petracco and Suggi Liverani, 1993). Despite this dynamic na­
ture of the parameters, an averaged value of bed permeability can be 3.1. Packed bed axial compression
estimated using Equation (5) if the extraction time range is defined
(Corrochano et al., 2015). We considered the time range of 10 s until the The obtained bed bulk densities from the powder rheometer
end of the extraction (depending on the particle size and packed bed compression experiments (Fig. 8) showed an influence of the parameters
configurations) for the pressure and flow averages to calculate the α and β. The results clearly suggest that for the same mean particle sizes

5
M. Vaca Guerra et al. Journal of Food Engineering 340 (2023) 111301

Fig. 8. Bed bulk density ρbulk vs the normal compression stress σ. Results ob­
tained from bed compression experiments with FT4 powder rheometer for
different particle size distributions. The different lines correspond to PSD from
the design of experiments for the α and β parameter study.

presented the lowest standard deviation of ± 2.31 kg/m3 between the

experiments and the lowest deviation when comparing the two levels of
β. The latter indicates that the effect of the distributions polydispersity
could be decreased with the mean particle size α. Decreasing the size
ratio of the bimodal particle sizes, leading to a monomodal distribution,
causes a stiffer response to stress (Annabattula et al., 2012).
From these results an interaction between α, β and the compression
behavior of the bed was found. When a low size uniformity is present in
the particle collective, middle-range sized particles will achieve larger
packing density (Brouwers, 2006). However, with larger size uniformity
distributions the smallest particle size will yield the largest bulk density.

3.2. Fitting compression model to estimate bed porosity

The resulting bed porosity values from the compression experiments

Fig. 7. Extraction data obtained from the espresso experiments; volume flow range from 0.19 to 0.32 (at highest compression stress). The range is in
(Q) and pressure drop (ΔP) as function of extraction time. a) Particular example good agreement with studies of packed bed porosities with bimodal
of a consistent extraction flow and pressure profile, for brewing of 50 g cup in distributions of other granular materials (Brouwers, 2006).
24 s. b) Example of a non-consistent and transient extraction flow and pressure
profile; the extraction time took considerably less seconds. For both cases the
average of the two parameters Q and ΔP was considered 10 s after the begin­
ning of the extraction until the extraction was stopped.

α, the largest bed bulk density was achieved in all cases with a lower size
uniformity β of the distribution. Decreasing the size uniformity provides
a larger possibility for the smaller particles to move between the larger
ones; thus the resistance response to deformation under stress is reduced
(Annabattula et al., 2012). When comparing the results for lower β
distributions, the largest bed bulk density was obtained with the middle
range particle size of 296 μm at all compression stresses. At the
maximum studied stress of 80 × 103 Pa, a bed density value of
approximately 520 kg/m3 was found for this distribution.
The lowest bulk density value of 420 kg/m3 was obtained also with
the mean particle size α = 296 μm distribution but higher size uniformity
β, hence narrower size distribution. These results are in accordance with
well-known properties of packed beds (Sohn and Moreland, 1968).
The compression curve in Fig. 8 has a larger increase at the lower
compression stresses used at the beginning of the experiment (up to 20
× 103 Pa), slowly decreasing towards higher axial stresses. This behavior Fig. 9. Bed bulk porosity εbulk vs the normal compression stress σ. The
was also observed by other authors (Heckel, 1961) where the first continuous lines depict the fitting of Equation (2) compression factor φ (1/Pa)
compression phase was attributed to a rapid rearrangement of the par­ and initial bed porosity ω (− ) to compression of experimental results. The
ticles in the bed. symbols refer to compression results of distribution A (□), distribution B (○)
and distribution C (▽) in accordance with legend of Fig. 6. The highlighted
Additionally, from all the distributions studied, α = 224 μm
area represents the normal compression range usually used in espresso brewing.

6
M. Vaca Guerra et al. Journal of Food Engineering 340 (2023) 111301

Equation (2) allows the prediction of the bed bulk porosity under a
given axial stress. To obtain the parameters ω and φ, the 9 data points
from the compression experiments were fitted to the above mentioned
equation for each PSD. The procedure was performed for the corre­
sponding three experiment repetitions. An example of the fitting results
is shown in Fig. 9 for three different distributions.
The intrinsic compression factor φ is related to the packing efficiency
of the bed (Heckel, 1961); larger values correspond to lower bed po­
rosities at the same axial stress. The second factor ω is related to the
initial bed porosity of the bed before normal compression stress is
applied. During the experiments this initial bed porosity was assumed to
be the bed porosity resulting from the axial force of the powders’ weight
only.
Furthermore, from Fig. 9 the initial compression stage at low axial
stress (from 1 × 103 to 10 × 103 Pa) has a different and relatively larger
compression factor slope than the rest of the compression progression.
The employed model prediction at this rapid primary stage of bed
compression is relatively deficient. However, this range of low
compression stress is too low compared to the commonly tamping stress
for espresso brewing (Petracco, 2005).

3.3. Packed bed compression semi-empirical model as function of α and β

parameters

The main objective of the present work was to develop a compression

Fig. 10. Obtained model from the ANOVA analysis using DesignExpert® soft­
model of the granular packed bed of coffee particles as a function of the
ware. The surface lines and colors show the compression factor φ (1/Pa) from
particle size distribution. Three samples from each of the six different Equation (9) as a function of particle mean size α and the size distribution
PSD configurations, tested at the nine compression stress conditions, uniformity factor β. Model R2 = 0.96, adjusted R2 = 0.93 and predicted R2
were included in the ANOVA analysis via the fitted compression factor φ = 0.73.
and initial bed porosity ω. Results indicated that α, β, and their inter­
action are significant parameters to impact both compression factors.
The obtained expression for compression factor φ is shown as Equation Table 3
(9): Empirical coefficients to estimate the compression factor ω from Equation (10).
The Equation was obtained from the ANOVA analysis.
1
φ= (9) Coefficient Value Units
k1 − k2 α − k3 β+k4 αβ+k5 α2
x1 0.48 –
where k1, k2, k3, k4, k5, are the respective empirical coefficients. Table 2 x2 8.5×102 1/m
x3 6.24×10− 2
contains the values of the obtained coefficients, which are valid for all
–
x4 4.64×102 1/m
distributions used in this work.
Fig. 10 depicts the dependence of the compression factor φ on α and
β. The results suggest that similar compression and packing efficiency In Fig. 11 the correlation between the β and α parameters with the
can be achieved for different mean particle sizes by adapting the size initial porosity ω is presented. Similar to the compression factor, the
uniformity of the distribution. The largest compression factor was not dependency of the parameter ω on the distribution uniformity decreases
found at the smallest particles but in the middle range mean sizes. The with the mean particle size.
variation of the compression factor due to the size uniformity β of the Note that parameter α could be also expressed as dimensionless,
distribution increases considerably with the mean particle size α. when divided, for instance, by the constant mean size of the fines frac­
For the initial bed porosity parameter ω has been proposed as pre­ tion 50 μm. By adjusting the coefficients associated with this parameter,
scribed in Equation (10): the overall model remains unimpacted. However, for the sake of a better
results visualization and analysis, the bare α value has been reported in
ω = x1 − x2 α − x3 β + x4 αβ (10)
this work.
where x1, x2, x3, x4 are the respective empirical coefficients correlated to
the distribution parameters α and β. The values for empirical coefficients 3.4. Model validation at the espresso portafilter compression system
are listed in Table 3. In the proposed model the wall friction force during
the axial compression of the bed is negligible. The experiment results to For the bed compression model validation in the Texture Analyzer
validate this assumption are included in Appendix B. system a new set of experiments were performed under similar range of
axial stresses as in the powder rheometer. Seven samples from additional
Table 2 PSDs and three from the previous compression experiments (also
Empirical coefficients to estimate the compression factor φ from Equation (9). employed in the permeability experiments, see Fig. 6) were used for the
The Equation was obtained from the ANOVA analysis. validation.
Coefficient Value Units Results show a good agreement with the bed porosity calculated with
k1 3.15×105 Pa the empirical model developed previously. The comparison between all
k2 1.59×109 Pa/m the measured and calculated packed bed porosity is presented in Fig. 12.
k3 6.65×104 Pa The model shows good predictability with the results for 60 mm stain­
k4 5.76×108 Pa/m less steel portafilter as well as for 50 mm acrylic vessel. The model also
k5 1.27×1012 Pa/m2
showed accuracy over the entire range of PSDs from α = 224 μm–484

7
M. Vaca Guerra et al.
Fig. 11. Obtained model from the ANOVA analysis using DesignExpert® soft­
ware. The surface lines and colors show the initial bed porosity ω (− ) from
Equation (10) as a function of particle mean size α and the size distribution
uniformity factor β. Model R2 = 0.91, adjusted R2 = 0.87 and predicted R2
= 0.71.
Fig. 12. Calculated versus experimental dry bed porosity results from all
validation experiments results for the dark roasted arabica coffee beans at the
60 mm stainless steel portafilter (○) and at the 50 mm acrylic vessel powder
container (□). The corresponding R2 = 0.93 for all the data. The error bars
correspond to the standard deviation of experiment repetitions.
μm, β from 1.3 to 2.27, and for fines volume fraction in a range of
17–32%. This non-disturbance of the fines fraction on the bed packing is
in agreement with other authors on related works (Brouwers, 2006),
(Furnas, 1929), who claimed that the smaller fraction no longer in­
fluences the bed packing when the smaller to larger ratio approximates
7–10.
It must be considered that the coefficients obtained for the
compression model correspond to the dark roast coffee beans used in
this work. To extend the application of the model to coffee with other
roasting degrees an additional calibration of the coefficients would be
8
Journal of Food Engineering 340 (2023) 111301
required. The roasting impacts the particle porosity of the coffee beans
and the granular properties of the particles (Petracco and Suggi Liverani,
1993).
Fig. 13 shows the model predicted bed porosity at 200 N (1 × 105 Pa
in 60 mm portafilter) for the whole particle size distribution range. This
compression force is an upper limit usually used in espresso brewing
(Petracco, 2005). However, the model was validated up to 350 N (1.24
× 105Pa in 60 mm portafilter) still showing a good agreement with the
results.
3.5. Determination of the compression force for extraction experiments
The obtained compression model was used to determine the axial
compression force necessary for getting the required dry bed porosity.
Special attention was set on having a consistent gap between the packed
bed and the shower water distributor. For this purpose, the determined
axial force for the least compressible packed bed from distribution B was
used to compress the bed at different coffee dosages (17.5 g, 19.86 g, and
22.2 g). This guaranteed that the considered coffee dosage was packed
within the restricted volume. The gap between the packed bed surface
and the machine shower was kept at a minimum to avoid the effects of
water accumulation or slurry effects. Millimetric variations resulted
between the powders, because of their different compression behaviors.
These variations were measured to adjust the respective dry bed
porosity. Despite having the same coffee dosage, the dry porosity values
are different for every powder. Distribution C had the lowest bed
porosity at every compression stress, followed by distribution A, and
finally distribution B. The resulted bed porosities were in a range of
0.24–0.38.
3.6. Impact of dry bed porosity on steady-state permeability
The calculated permeabilities (K) from Equation (5) were found to be
in the range of 1.8 × 10− 14 m2 and 3.6 × 10− 13 m2. This range covers
typical values reported in the literature (Navarini et al., 2009), (Corro­
chano et al., 2015). The detailed calculations and assumptions to obtain
the permeability values can be found in Appendix C.
The impact of dry bed porosity on the resulting permeability was
found to reduce considerably with the mean particle size for the studied
range of porosities (0.24–0.38) (Fig. 14). All results from distribution A
shown to have a low and consistent permeability. The other two dis­
tributions B and C exhibited a considerable increase of permeability with
increasing dry bed porosity. A larger inconsistency among the experi­
ment repetitions was observed in experiments with higher permeability.
Similar results were reported for filtration cake resistances from studies
of other particle systems (Kinnarinen et al., 2015). The results suggest
that lower permeabilities are more consistent and led to a better
reproducibility between the experiments. These low permeabilities were
found with all the PSD samples under a certain critical dry porosity of
around 0.30.
3.7. Correlation between the particle size characteristics and the resulting
packing bed permeability
In order to predict the packed bed permeability of irregular-shaped
particles with a large range of sizes accurately, an empirical equation
must be derived for a given packing arrangement from the particles
sample (Allen et al., 2013). A large deviation between the experimental
bed permeability and the values calculated with Equation (7) has been
found in published works, indicating the predictive limitation of the
Kozeny-Carman expression for coffee extraction flow (Corrochano et al.,
2015). Coffee packed bed percolation is related to a dynamic change of
porosity in function of time. Moreover, it was assumed from the results
shown in Fig. 14, that conditions at the packed bed, including the bed
porosity, seem to reach a constant state that remains unaltered during
the rest of the extraction. This final value was not determined in this
M. Vaca Guerra et al. Journal of Food Engineering 340 (2023) 111301

Fig. 13. Dry bed porosity calculated from Equations (2), (9) and (10) as function of the whole range of particle mean size α and size uniformity factor β studied.
Compression force 200 N at a 60 mm portafilter. The coefficient of determination corresponds to R2 = 0.93.

Fig. 14. Steady-state permeability as function of dry bed porosity experiment

Fig. 15. Calculated vs measured bed permeability results using the obtained
results. Bed permeability increases considerably for dry bed porosity values
derived equation (11). The symbols correspond to distribution A(○), distribution
above 0.3. Symbols refer to distribution A (○), distribution B (□), and distri­
B(□), and distribution C (△). The corresponding adjusted is R2 = 0.94. The
bution C (△). The error bars correspond to the standard deviation of experi­
error bars correspond to the standard deviation of experiment repetitions.
ment repetitions.

( )2
work. However, it was found that the steady-state permeability highly ψ d3,2 ε4.3 0.43
bed β
depends on the initial dry bed porosity, so the latter could be used to K= (11)
72 λ (1 − εbed )2
2
predict it.
The calculated permeability was then correlated to the particle size where ψ is the particle sphericity, d3,2 the Sauter diameter, β the dis­
distribution by means of the intrinsic characteristic factor proposed β tribution size uniformity factor, εbed the dry bed porosity, and λ an
and the dry bed porosity εbed. A modified form of Kozeny-Carman empirical constant with the value of 7.5. The exponent of dry porosity
equation for permeability is proposed in Equation (11): and the empirical constants were obtained by fitting Equation (11) to

9
M. Vaca Guerra et al. Journal of Food Engineering 340 (2023) 111301

experimental data of the extraction experiments. Fig. 15 shows the
satisfactory agreement between calculated values from Equation (11)
and the experimental bed permeability. The form of the expression is
equivalent to the one developed for a similar packed bed system (with
irregular shapes and highly dispersed powders) (Vidal et al., 2009),
which is also related to particle size distribution properties.
The value of the empirical term λ could be related to the microscopic
phenomena that take place during the water percolation like particle
swelling, fines or cell fragments migration, and flow-induced erosion.
The irregularities in the shape of the particles and the surface roughness
can also highly contribute to an increase in surface area, and therefore to
lower permeabilities (Allen et al., 2013).
An increment in the tortuosity of the bed also leads to a rise in
permeability. Dias et al. (2006) proposed an expression of this param­
eter as an inversely proportional function of the bed porosity. The latter
could justify the obtained exponent for the dry bed porosity in Equation
(11).
However, with the empirical term λ along with the proposed Equa­
tion (11) it is not possible to determine the effect of these microscopic
phenomena independently. Additional experiments, specifically focused
on particle tortuosity, would be needed for this purpose.
From the derived equation it can be concluded that the steady-state
permeability is strongly interconnected not only with the mean particle
size d3,2, but also with the size uniformity factor β and thus the complete
micromechanical phenomena, the model proposed in this work could be
compared to DEM simulations of packed beds with a large range of
particle sizes. To cover a broader range of coffee particles the experi­
ments from this work could be extended to coffee grounds with different
roast levels. The dependency of the coffee bed compressibility on the
fines fraction can be addressed in the future.
Credit author statement
Mauricio Vaca Guerra: Writing-Reviewing and Editing, Conceptual­
ization, Methodology, Software, Yogesh Harshe: Conceptualization,
Formal analysis, Visualization, Writing-Reviewing and Editing, Lennart
Fries: Conceptualization, Supervision, Formal analysis, Reviewing and
Editing, Sophia Rothberg: Validation, Formal analysis, Writing-
Reviewing and Editing, Stefan Palzer: Resources, Supervision, Stefan
Heinrich: Project administration, Supervision, Funding acquisition,
Reviewing and Editing.
Table C.1
Extraction conditions from the permeability experiments obtained from the
espresso machine. Dry bed porosity corresponds to εbed, pressure drop to ΔP,
volume flow to Q and bed consolidation measured after extraction to δL.
Distribution Dosage Q
ε0 ΔP δL

information of the distribution shape. Decreasing the particle size uni­ – g – bar ml/s mm
formity leads to a lower bed permeability. These results would enable A 22.2 0.25 14.40 ± 0.36 2.45 ± 0.45 1.06 ± 0.02
using Darcy’s law with the modified permeability Equation (11) to 19.86 0.28 14.33 ± 0.15 3.01 ± 0.16 1.12 ± 0.01
predict coffee extraction performance at the given conditions used in 17.50 0.30 12.57 ± 1.28 4.31 ± 0.58 1.31 ± 0.01
B 22.2 0.27 13.32 ± 1.12 3.04 ± 1.08 1.12 ± 0.01
this work.
19.86 0.31 6.34 ± 0.68 6.81 ± 0.38 1.13 ± 0.01
17.50 0.36 4.19 ± 0.79 8.17 ± 0.28 1.13 ± 0.01
4. Conclusion C 22.2 0.24 14.21 ± 0.38 2.40 ± 0.66 1.16 ± 0.01
19.86 0.27 12.13 ± 1.27 3.87 ± 0.65 1.10 ± 0.01
17.50 0.35 4.71 ± 1.00 7.12 ± 1.63 1.16 ± 0.02
In this work the initial compression of packed beds of coffee parti­
cles, characterized by bimodal particle size distributions, was shown to
strongly impact bed permeability, extraction flow rate and flow time. A
model to predict the dry bed porosity as a function of the mean particle
size α, and size uniformity of the distribution coarse fraction β was
developed. Very good agreement was found between experimental data
and model predictions. The packed bed porosity under certain axial
stress was found to have a large dependence on both parameters β and α.
Lower dry bed porosities can be achieved by decreasing the size uni­
formity of the particle collective β from 1.95 to 1.40 at a constant mean
particle size α. The packing density was found to be maximum at the
lower β value of 1.40 and for middle-range mean particle size of 296 μm
of the coarse fraction. The strong dependency of the bed compressibility
on the distribution uniformity was found to decrease with the mean
particle size.
Extraction experiments in an espresso machine were carried out to
evaluate the impact of the dry bed porosity, thus the PSD properties, on
the coffee bed permeability. The results indicate that the characteristic
low extraction flow can be also achieved with a larger mean particle size
but wider size distribution. A modified Kozeny-Carman correlation was
derived as a function of the dry bed porosity. This new correlation ac­ Fig. B.1. Bed bulk porosity εbulk vs the normal compression stress σ. Compar­
ison of the powder container diameter and material effect on bed compression.
counts for the effects of the particle size uniformity β. The proposed
The symbols correspond to experiment results for stainless steel 25 mm diam­
constant λ with a value of 7.5, as well as the dry porosity exponent of 4.3
eter with distribution A (●), distribution B (■) and distribution C (▴); stainless
could be related to the microscopic phenomena contribution to an in­ steel 60 mm diameter with distribution B (⊠),distribution C (▽); and acrylic
crease in the available surface area due to particle swelling, erosion, 50 mm diameter with distribution A (○), distribution B (□) and distribution C
solubilization, and fines migration, identified and studied by many other (△). Results show that the wall friction has no considerable effect on the bed
authors. Moreover, the applicability of the proposed equation still have compression. The error bars correspond to the standard deviation of experiment
to be tested, especially when any of the extraction conditions like water repetitions.
temperature, roasting degree, larger fines fraction and portafilter ge­
ometry are changed.
For more precise studies of the impact of PSD properties on

10
M. Vaca Guerra et al. Journal of Food Engineering 340 (2023) 111301

Fig. D.1. Characterization of the Mahlkönig EK43 and Mahlkönig Home Vario
coffee milling machines with fines fractions (dp < 100 μm), d (Illy and Nav­
arini, 2011; Petracco, 2001) and d (Mateus et al., 2007; Illy and Navarini, 2011)
mean diameters. The settings 1 to 3 from the EK43 and settings 2 to 3 from
Vario Home were used to obtain the compression experiments particle size
distributions. These range of settings fulfilled the requirements of approxi­
mately 25% fines fraction, variable mean sizes and uniformity at the coarse
fraction. The error bars correspond to the standard deviation from three mea­
surement repetitions.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial

interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.

Data availability

The authors are unable or have chosen not to specify which data has
been used.

Appendix A. Evaluation of intrinsic solid density of roasted coffee, particle porosity and bed bulk porosity

The method adopted to determine the packed bed porosity is reported in (Corrochano et al., 2015). A summary of the method will be described in
this work. The relationship to the porosity of the particles is as follows in Equation A.1:
ρbulk = ρparticle (1 − εbed ) (A.1)

where ρbulk is the bed bulk density, ρparticle the density of the roasted coffee and εbed the porosity of the packed bed.
Depending on the roasting degree internal porosity in coffee beans is created. Hence, the density of the particles is calculated knowing the intrinsic
solid density of the coffee matrix ρsolid and the particles internal porosity εparticle, as shown in Equation A.2:
( )
ρparticle = ρsolid 1 − εparticle (A.2)

To determine the intrinsic solid density and specific volume of closed pores Helium pycnometer AccuPyc II 1340 Helium Pycnometer (Micro­
metrics, UK) was used. A distribution of average particle size d3,2 = 70 μm assuming this sufficiently small particles do not contain any closed pores.
The specific volume of closed pores was estimated from the difference between specific solid volume from the aforementioned distribution and the
measured specific volume of the corresponding distribution. A mass of the sample between 0.45 and 0.65 g was measured in an electronic balance
(10− 5 g accuracy) and placed in the pycnometer cell of 3.5 cm3. Helium purging was performed in 50 cycles to complete 6 measurements of the solid
volume Mercury porosimetry on a Pascal 140–440 Mercury Porosimeter (Thermofischer, USA) was used to determine the specific volume of open
pores (by taking into account all the assumptions made by the authors). Between 0.30 and 0.43 g were measured in an electronic balance with an
accuracy of 10− 4 g and placed into the dilatometer. Mercury was fed inside with progressively increasing pressure up to 400 MPa.
Four different particles size distributions in the range between d4,3 = 212 μm and 500 μm were selected for the determination of the coffee particles
density. The objective was to cover the entire range of all experiments described in this work. It was assumed that the average from these distributions
would be representative of all the coffee particle collectives employed in this work. All measurements were carried out on three independent samples.

11
M. Vaca Guerra et al. Journal of Food Engineering 340 (2023) 111301

Appendix A.1. Calculation of intrinsic density, open, closed and bed bulk porosity

With the method described in the previous section Appendix A, the intrinsic densities of the high roasted 100% arabica coffee were estimated as
1304 ± 9.1 kg/m3. Open porosity, obtained from the mercury porosimetry was found to be 0.30 and 0.46 with an average of 0.38 without any
appreciable tendency. Closed porosity was found between 0.13 and 0.37 increasing considerably with particle size. The average total porosity was
0.515, obtained by adding the open and closed porosity. These results are in accordance with the values reported by Corrochano et al. (2015) using the
similar method and approach. According to the authors, high closed porosity is expected in coffee particle with larger mean sizes due to the large
portion of intact cell pockets in the grain. The large porosity deviation can be attributed to the intrinsic variability of the microstructures in the
particles.
The average total porosity was used to calculate the particle density ρparticle according to Equation A.2. The value was found to be 632.7 kg/m3
which was employed for the determination of bed bulk porosity εbed (Equation A.1) for all the experiments.

Appendix B. Evaluation of the wall friction influence during packed bed compression

Figure B.1 shows the bed porosity results from compressing the same particle size distributions at equivalent compression stress in the three vessels
with different wall material and vessel diameters. The variations in the values lay within the data scatter. From these results, we concluded that the
wall friction in the bed compression process is negligible; this is reasonable considering the relatively small distance of the portafilter height where the
bed is contained in comparison with the studied packed bed reactors and silos in published works and the bed to particle diameter ratios (Di Felice and
Gibilaro, 2004). The only effect of the portafilter diameter was found to be the increase of the cross sectional area over which the compression stress is
acting. Therefore, when increasing the diameter a higher force is required to achieve the same compression stress as in a smaller diameter vessel.

Appendix C. Calculation of the steady state permeability

To calculate the steady-state permeability Equation (5) for Darcy’s law was used. The experimental pressure drop and volume flow for the three
PSD are reported in Table C.1. To determine the coffee bed length, the average bed consolidation δL for every respective measurement was subtracted
from the initial bed length (average value 2.55 cm) as shown in Equation C.1:
δL = L0 − Li (C.1)

where L0 (mm) is the initial length related to the initial dry bed, Li (mm) is the bed length after extraction, resulting from the bed consolidation.
Different from the approach adopted by Corrochano et al. (2015) the bed porosity was not consequently adapted to the bed consolidation. We
considered that the coffee-packed bed undergoes a series of physical changes during extraction process, due to soluble material being extracted,
particle swelling etc. (Illy and Viani, 2005), (Petracco, 2005). The particle and bed porosity changes have been considered relevant for espresso
extraction modeling (Moroney et al., 2015). For this reason, we focus in this work on studying the impact of the dry bed porosity on permeability, as
the initial condition that states the microscopic scale phenomena; correlated to the effects at a macroscopic scale.
Preliminary coffee brew viscosity measurements were performed at a viscosimeter. The measurements were carried out at a constant fluid tem­
perature of 65 ± 5◦ C (brew temperature at the exit of the packed bed). The measured viscosity of the coffee brew was 3.5 mPa s at the temperature
mentioned before. The obtained value is consistent with the ones reported in the literature for coffee brew at the same temperature (Salamanca et al.,
2017); however, these results are not included in this work.

Appendix D. Characterization of the milling machines

The parameters α and β of the particle size distributions were only known after milling. Therefore, to obtain the specific values of these parameters,
a reverse method was employed. This way the milling was done by targeting the corresponding specific distribution.
Two milling machines were used. The burrs position, design and milling operation differences between the two milling machines were advan­
tageous to produce the presented PSD samples in Fig. 3, for the compression experiments.
Mahlkönig EK43 milling machine provided a range of mean coarse fraction sizes without a large variation of the volume fines fraction (mean value
of 25%) as it can be seen in Figure D.1. These settings were used to obtain the high uniformity PSD samples for the experiments. On the other hand,
Mahlkönig Vario Home produces a wider particle distribution, and usually also a larger volume fines fraction. Setting 2 from Vario Home was used to
obtain the larger mean size with lower uniformity distribution.
As it can be seen in Figure D.1, the finest settings of the Home Vario milling machine generated large fines fractions. Therefore, it was not possible
to obtain smaller mean particle sizes and wide distributions directly from one single machine. Instead, milled coffee from the EK43 fine settings (0–1)
and the coarser settings from Vario Home (2–3) was mixed systematically to produce the small and middle range wider distribution without increasing
the fines over 25–30%. All the samples were made batch-wise with several control measurements at the Camsizer to avoid any variations in the
particle size distributions.

References Carman, P.C., 1997. Fluid flow through granular beds. Chem. Eng. Res. Des. 75,
S32–S48. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0263-8762(97)80003-2.
Corrochano, B.R., Melrose, J.R., Bentley, A.C., Fryer, P.J., Bakalis, S., 2015. A new
Allen, K.G., von Backström, T.W., Kröger, D.G., 2013. Packed bed pressure drop
methodology to estimate the steady-state permeability of roast and ground coffee in
dependence on particle shape, size distribution, packing arrangement and
packed beds. J. Food Eng. 150 (25), 106–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
roughness. Powder Technol. 246, 590–600. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
jfoodeng.2014.11.006.
powtec.2013.06.022.
Di Felice, R., Gibilaro, L.G., 2004. Wall effects for the pressure drop in fixed beds. Chem.
Annabattula, R.K., Gan, Y., Kamlah, M., 2012. Mechanics of binary and polydisperse
Eng. Sci. 59 (14), 3037–3040.
spherical pebble assembly. Fusion Eng. Des. 87 (5–6), 853–858.
Dias, R., Teixeira, J.A., Mota, M., Yelshin, A., 2006. Tortuosity variation in a low density
Brouwers, H.J., 2006. Particle size distribution and packing fraction of geometric
binary particulate bed. Separ. Purif. Technol. 51 (2), 180–184.
random packings. Phys. Rev. 74 (3), 031309.

12
M. Vaca Guerra et al.
Ellero, M., Navarini, L., 2019. Mesoscopic modelling and simulation of espresso coffee
extraction. J. Food Eng. 263, 181–194.
Endo, Y., Chen, D.-R., Pui, D.Y.H., 2002. Theoretical consideration of permeation
resistance of fluid through a particle packed layer. Powder Technol. 124 (1–2),
119–126.
Furnas, C.C., 1929, 74. Bulletin of US Bureau of Mines 307. Department of Commerce,
Bureau of Mines, Report of Investigation Serial No. 2894, 1928.
Heckel, R.W., 1961. Density-pressure relationships in powder compaction. Trans Metall
Soc AIME 221 (4), 671–675.
Illy, E., Navarini, L., 2011. Neglected food bubbles: the espresso coffee foam. Food
Biophys. 6 (3), 335–348.
Illy, A., Viani, R., 2005. Espresso Coffee: the Science of Quality. Academic Press.
Kinnarinen, T., Tuunila, R., Huhtanen, M., Häkkinen, A., Kejik, P., Sverak, T., 2015. Wet
grinding of CaCO3 with a stirred media mill: influence of obtained particle size
distributions on pressure filtration properties. Powder Technol. 273, 54–61. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2014.12.028.
Mateus, M.-L., Rouvet, M., Gumy, J.-C., Liardon, R., 2007. Interactions of water with
roasted and ground coffee in the wetting process investigated by a combination of
physical determinations. J. Agric. Food Chem. 55 (8), 2979–2984.
McCabe, W.L., Smith, J.M., 1976. Unit Operations of Chemical Engineering. McGraw-
Hill, New York.
Mo, C., Johnston, R., Navarini, L., Ellero, M., 2021. Modeling the effect of flow-induced
mechanical erosion during coffee filtration. Phys. Fluids 33 (9), 093101. https://doi.
org/10.1063/5.0059707.
Mo, C., Navarini, L., Liverani, F.S., Ellero, M., 2022. Modeling swelling effects during
coffee extraction with smoothed particle hydrodynamics. Phys. Fluids 34 (4),
043104.
13
Journal of Food Engineering 340 (2023) 111301
Moroney, K.M., Lee, W.T., Suijver, F., Marra, J., 2015. Modelling of coffee extraction
during brewing using multiscale methods: an experimentally validated model.
Chem. Eng. Sci. 137, 216–234.
Navarini, L., Nobile, E., Pinto, F., Scheri, A., Suggi-Liverani, F., 2009. Experimental
investigation of steam pressure coffee extraction in a stove-top coffee maker. Appl.
Therm. Eng. 29 (5–6), 998–1004.
Petracco, M., 2001. Technology 4: Beverage Preparation: Brewing Trends for the New
Millennium, COFFEE Recent Developments. Blackwell Science Ltd., London, UK.
Petracco, M., 2005. The cup and percolation, Espresso coffee. The science of quality
259–289, 290–315.
Petracco, M., Suggi Liverani, F., 1993. Espresso coffee brewing dynamics: development
of mathematical and computational models. Colloque Scientifique International sur
le Cafe 15, 702.
Salamanca, C.A., Fiol, N., González, C., Saez, M., Villaescusa, I., 2017. Extraction of
espresso coffee by using gradient of temperature. effect on physicochemical and
sensorial characteristics of espresso. Food Chem. 214, 622–630.
Sohn, H.Y., Moreland, C., 1968. The effect of particle size distribution on packing
density. Can. J. Chem. Eng. 46 (3), 162–167. https://doi.org/10.1002/
cjce.5450460305.
Verhoff, F.H., Furjanic Jr., J.J., 1983. Compressible packed bed fluid dynamics with
application to a glucose isomerase reactor. Ind. Eng. Chem. Process Des. Dev. 22 (2),
192–198.
Vesilind, P.A., 1980. The rosin-rammler particle size distribution. Resour. Recovery
Conserv. 5 (3), 275–277.
Vidal, D., Ridgway, C., Pianet, G., Schoelkopf, J., Roy, R., Bertrand, F., 2009. Effect of
particle size distribution and packing compression on fluid permeability as predicted
by lattice-Boltzmann simulations. Comput. Chem. Eng. 33 (1), 256–266.