Abstract
Natural caffeine from decaffeination processes is widely used by pharmaceutical, cosmetic and soft-drink industries. Supercritical CO2 extraction (SFE–CO2) is extensively exploited industrially, and one of its most representative applications is the decaffeination process, which is a greener alternative to the use of organic solvents. Despite its advantages, extraction kinetics are rather slow near the CO2 critical point, meaning that improvements are highly sought after. The effect exerted by a combination of SFE–CO2 and ultrasound (US–SFE–CO2) has been investigated in this preliminary study, with the aim of improving mass transfer and selectivity in the extraction of caffeine from green coffee beans. This hybrid technology can considerably enhance the extraction efficiency and cut down process time. Further studies are in progress to demonstrate the complete decaffeination of green coffee beans of different types and origins.
Highlights
Caffeine is a xanthine alkaloid widely used in beverages, as well as in pharmaceutical and cosmetic preparations [1]
Computational simulation studies on caffeine extraction from a fixed bed of coffee beans indicate that acoustic waves could significantly accelerate the kinetics of SFE thanks to their physical/mechanical effects on the treated vegetal matrix, leading to an improvement of extraction rate and yield [9]
This study aims to evaluate the possibility of using the effect of cavitation to improve the SFE–CO2 of caffeine from Arabica green coffee beans, in terms of reducing the process time and temperature and enriching extracts
Summary
Caffeine is a xanthine alkaloid widely used in beverages (soft or energy drinks), as well as in pharmaceutical and cosmetic preparations [1]. The global caffeine market was valued at. US$ 231.1 million in 2018 and is expected to reach US$ 349.2 million by 2027 expanding at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 4.7% during the forecast from 2019 to 2027 [2]. This rising demand boosts the global caffeine market. Besides production via chemical synthesis, there is an urgent need to increase caffeine production via isolation from natural sources, the principle of which is coffee beans [3,4]. The decaffeination of green coffee beans commonly involves several steps, such as steaming, extraction, drying and caffeine recovery [4,5,6]. Of the alternative green processes available, supercritical CO2 extraction (SFE–CO2 )
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