Journal of Food Engineering 99 (2010) 430–436

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Journal of Food Engineering

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

Heat and mass transfer during the coffee drying process

Katrin Burmester *, Rudolf Eggers
University of Technology, Institute for Thermal Process Engineering, Heat and Mass Transfer, Eissendorfer Str. 38, 21073 Hamburg, Germany

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: For a better comprehension of heat and mass transfer during the coffee drying process and optimization
Received 4 March 2009 of the industrial application transport coefficients and coffee properties were determined. Heat transfer
Received in revised form 8 December 2009 coefficients were measured for different air velocities and were found to follow the known dimensionless
Accepted 13 December 2009
equations for the flow surrounding a sphere. Thermal conductivities and effective diffusion coefficients
Available online 21 December 2009
were measured as a function of moisture content as well as volume and densities of the coffee beans.
The mentioned properties depend directly on the humidity of the coffee beans rather than on the drying
Keywords:
conditions. Sorption behaviour was investigated and temperature dependent parameters for the Guggen-
Drying
Coffee
heimer–Anderson–deBoer-isotherm (GAB) were determined according to the Arrhenius relationship.
Heat transfer Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Shrinkage
Sorption isotherm
Thermal conductivity

1. Introduction to their density in three different quality classes. To minimize

Coffee is dried to enable storage and transport. Due to the fol-
lowing roasting process the humidity of the dried coffee is required
to be around 11%. This work focusses on the drying of wet processed
coffee. In many countries coffee is dried in drum dryers due to the
two main advantages compared to sun drying: higher plant capac-
ities and independency of climatic conditions. For the optimization
of the drying process a better understanding of the process is essen-
tial. Therefore, drying curves and temperature evolution as well as
coffee properties and transport coefficients need to be investigated.
Drying of green coffee is a process controlled by internal transport
resistance inside the bean. Hence, for describing the mass transfer the
effective diffusion coefficient has to be determined. Commonly a
Arrhenius type relationship is used to describe the temperature
dependency of the diffusion coefficient as published for different food
materials (Bialobrzewski, 2007; Di Scala and Crapiste, 2008; Hii et al.,
2009; Roberts et al., 2008; Srikiatden and Roberts, 2006; Srikiatden
and Roberts, 2008). Further the moisture content has an important
influence on the water diffusivity in various agricultural products
(Azzouz et al., 2002; Ruiz-Lopez and Garcia-Alvarado, 2007).
2. Materials and methods
The coffee, which was used for this investigation, was produced
in the mountains of Costa Rica. After harvest the coffee fruits are
wet processed: the pulp is removed from the coffee bean and the
coffee beans are separated in various floating processes according
waste water production instead of a fermentation process a
mechanical process is applied to remove the mucilage. A skin dryer
represents the last process step before the drying in the drum dry-
ers is performed. The standard coffee beans show a half-ellipsoid
shape as usually two beans grow in one coffee berry in contact
by the flat surface. The coffee bean is surrounded by a thin layer
(silver skin) (Ghosh and Gacanja, 1970) and a stronger, outer layer
(parchment), which are removed before the coffee is roasted or ex-
ported. In Fig. 1 a photograph of wet processed coffee beans with-
out silver skin (Ghosh and Gacanja, 1970) and parchment is shown.
To investigate the mass and temperature evolution of coffee
beans during the drying process single bean experiments are car-
ried out. By means of a miniature drill a hole is produced in the
bean to introduce a wire to enable the connection to an analytical
balance. In order to obtain a significant difference in the balance
signal five beans are analyzed simultaneously in each experiment.
They are placed in such a distance that they behave as single beans.
An additional bean is used to measure the evolution of the surface
temperature. The experiments are performed inside an oven to as-
sure isothermal conditions. Inside the oven a vessel is placed which
contains a supersaturated salt solution to maintain a constant air
humidity during the drying experiment. The initial humidity is
analyzed gravimetrically inside an oven with 105 °C within 16 h.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Heat transfer coefficient

* Corresponding author. For examination of the heat transfer coefficient under condi-
E-mail address: Katrin.Burmester@tu-harburg.de (K. Burmester). tions of forced flow four copper models of coffee beans were

0260-8774/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2009.12.021
 K. Burmester, R. Eggers / Journal of Food Engineering 99 (2010) 430–436 431

Nomenclature

A area (m2) v velocity (m/s)

a thermal diffusivity (m2/s) w humidity (wet base) (kg/kg)
b parameter for humidity dependency of diffusion (kg/kg) X humidity (dry base) (kg/kg)
Bi Biot number (Bi = h d/ksolid) (dimensionless)
cp specific heat (J/kgK) Greek letters
D diffusion coefficient (m2/s) j, x, f parameters of GAB sorption isotherm
d diameter (m) m kinematic viscosity (m2/s)
Dw,a binary diffusivity of water vapor in air u water activity (dimensionless)
(Dw,a = 2.26  105 m2/s at 25 °C)
Ea activation energy (J/mol) Subscripts
h heat transfer coefficient (W/m2K) 0 initial value
k thermal conductivity (W/mK) dc dry coffee
m mass (kg) eff effective
Nu Nusselt number (Nu = h d/k) (dimensionless) eq equilibrium value
Pr Prandtl number (Pr = m/a) (dimensionless) S sample
R radius of a sphere (m) sur surface
Rc universal gas constant (Rc = 8.314 J/molK) w water
Re Reynolds number (Re = v d/m) (dimensionless)
T temperature (K)
t time (s)

prepared. A hole was drilled into each model to enable the tem- Nulam ¼ 0:664Re1=2 Pr1=3 ð2Þ
perature measurement by means of a thermocouple and posi-
For a turbulent flow across a sphere applies:
tioning of the model bean in front of the outlet of a flow
channel (Fig. 2). The model beans differ in the position of the 0:037Re0:8 Pr
hole. In this way the orientation of the model beans varies with Nuturb ¼   ð3Þ
respect to the surrounding flow. 1:0 þ 2:443Re0:1 Pr2=3  1
For the simulation of the drying process of grains it is generally
The superposed value is determined by the following
accepted to assume the grain as a sphere (Azzouz et al., 2002). To
relationship:
verify this assumption a copper sphere was analyzed in the same
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
manner as the model beans.
Nusup ¼ 2 þ Nu2lam þ Nu2turb ð4Þ
For the measurement the sample is heated up to 100 °C and
than placed into the defined airflow with 20 °C. The cooling curve Since the error of this measurement is a systematic one, the
provides the heat transfer coefficient: data of the sphere can be used as a reference to which the data
  of the model beans are related to. The deviation between the mea-
T S  T sur mS cp;S
h ¼ ln ð1Þ sured values for the sphere and the theoretical values for the
T 0  T sur ADt
superposed flow over a sphere represent the error of the experi-
Eq. (1) can be used as long as the Biot criterion, Bi < 0.1, (heat mental setup and have been taken into account for all measure-
transfer dominates thermal conductivity) is fulfilled. For the sur- ments. The models of coffee beans show a dependency on the air
face area of the model beans the surface area of a half-ellipsoid flow direction. The more turbulences are formed behind the object
was calculated. In Fig. 3 the heat transfer versus gas velocity is the better the heat transfer is. The experiments prove that the
shown in terms of dimensionless numbers. The theoretical values dimensionless relationships for the flow across a sphere can be
can be calculated according to dimensionless relationships as pub- used for coffee beans.
lished by Gnielinski (1975). For a laminar flow across a sphere
applies: 3.2. Effective thermal conductivity

For the determination of the effective thermal conductivity of

green coffee beans a stationary plate method was used. The coffee
is ground and pressed to a round plate. In Fig. 4 the measured ther-
mal conductivities are shown according to the samples humidity.
The humidity of the sample was found to follow a linear
dependency on water content:

keff ¼ wkw þ ð1  wÞkdc ð5Þ

Fig. 1. Green beans without parchment and silver skin (Ghosh and Gacanja, 1970)
before drying process.
The value found for dry coffee is 0.2 ± 0.02 W/mK. The mea-
sured effective thermal conductivities are higher but in the same
range as those published by Borem et al. (2002), Chandrasekar
and Viswanathan (1999) or Eggers et al. (2002). The deviation
may be caused by different coffee varieties or differences in the
proceeding of the measurement of the effective variable. As it is
not possible to analyze the thermal conductivity of a single bean,
a round plate of grinded coffee had to be formed. Therefore, no
432 K. Burmester, R. Eggers / Journal of Food Engineering 99 (2010) 430–436

thermocouple
fan
thermocouple
diffusor

sample heating device

nozzle flow straightener (copper)

samples:

(1) (2) (3) (4)

Fig. 2. Experimental setup for the measurement of heat transfer coefficients.

140

120

100
Nusselt

80

60

40

20
0 4000 8000 12000 16000 20000
Reynolds
Nusselt, superposed measurement coffee bean 1
measurement coffee bean 2 measurement coffee bean 3
measurement coffee bean 4 measurement sphere

Fig. 3. Dimensionless representation of the heat transfer coefficient versus air velocity.

structure dependency could be analyzed. Differences in particle
size after grinding or porosity of the sample, which is defined by
applied pressure during sample preparation, may lead to different
results.
3.3. Coffee volume and density
For the analysis of heat and mass transfer during the coffee dry-
ing process it is important to characterize volume and density of
the coffee beans. In Fig. 5 the average dimensions of the coffee
beans of samples taken during different drying experiments are
shown. It can be seen, that the shrinkage of coffee beans depends
directly on the moisture content. The sphericity (ratio of the sur-
face of a sphere of equivalent volume to particle surface) is increas-
ing during the drying process, because the bigger dimensions
(length, width) are shrinking more than smaller one (height).
Assuming the coffee geometry to be a half-ellipsoid, the diameter
of a sphere of equivalent volume was calculated from the mea-
sured dimensions. For illustration the corresponding values for
the roasted beans are shown at 2% of humidity (Fig. 5). The values
are in good agreement with the data published for green beans by
Ghosh and Gacanja (1970).
When characterizing coffee density, two densities have to be
distinguished: real and apparent density. The real density of a solid
is the ratio of mass to the volume of the solid. The apparent density
describes the ratio of mass to the outer volume, including an inner
volume as a possible pore volume. In Fig. 6 the real and apparent
densities are shown as a function of coffee humidity. Like in case
of the coffee volume, density also directly depends on humidity.
The apparent density is constant for the drying process, because
shrinkage and mass loss are in the same range. The real density in-
creases during the drying process. The difference between the real
 K. Burmester, R. Eggers / Journal of Food Engineering 99 (2010) 430–436 433

0.5

thermal conductivity (W/mK)

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

experiment theoretical
0.0
0 10 20 30 40 50
humidity (% (wb))

Fig. 4. Thermal conductivity measurement for coffee in relation to the water content.

14

12

10

8
(mm)

2
length width height diameter sphere
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
coffee humidity (% (wb))

Fig. 5. Dimension of coffee beans and humidity dependency.

and apparent density indicates an increasing inner volume. On the The plots of coffee humidity versus the corresponding relative
other hand, the lack of a first drying stage means that no pores ex- air humidity result in sorption isotherms for different tempera-
ist, that would enhance evaporation by convection. This assump- tures. These sorption isotherms can be described with the Guggen-
tion was supported by measurements of porosity by means of a heimer–Anderson–deBoer (GAB) model. The GAB-isotherm is a
nitrogen porosimeter, that did not give any applicable results. three parameter equation based on the Brunauer–Emmet–Teller
Probably, the increasing inner volume may be due to a changing (BET) isotherm.
geometry of the coiled gap of the coffee bean.
fjxu
X¼ ð6Þ
ð1  juÞð1  ju þ fjuÞ
3.4. Sorption behaviour
The parameters are fitted to experimental data in a tempera-
The sorption behaviour was analyzed by means of eight desic- ture-dependent structure according to the Arrhenius relationship.
cators with different supersaturated salt solutions. According to  
the temperature inside the oven defined relative air humidities f ¼ 3:661017 exp 1:077105 =RC T ð7Þ
are set. Three bins with coffee beans are put inside each desiccator.  
If the mass of the coffee beans does not change within three days, it j ¼ 1:3668 exp 8:94102 =RC T ð8Þ
 
is assumed that the equilibrium state is reached. Subsequently, the
x ¼ 5:1103 exp 5:72103 =RC T ð9Þ
humidity of the coffee beans is analyzed.
434 K. Burmester, R. Eggers / Journal of Food Engineering 99 (2010) 430–436

2000

1500
density (kg/m³) real density

apparent density
1000

500
0 10 20 30 40 50
humidity (% (wb))

Fig. 6. Apparent and real density and humidity dependency.

The experimental sorption isotherms and those calculated with
the parameters are shown in Fig. 7. The values are higher than
those published in the Food Properties Handbook (Rahman,
1995), but in good agreement with the data published for green
beans by Samaniego-Esguerra et al. (1991). The determination of
temperature depending parameters of the sorption isotherm is
decisive for the modeling of the drying process, because it delivers
the possibility to characterize the equilibrium condition between
the humidity of the drying air and the moisture content of the sur-
face of the coffee bean. The data found can be used to state the con-
ditions for coffee storage.
3.5. Diffusion coefficient
The results of the single bean drying experiments and the com-
parison to theoretical drying rates for the first drying stage have
shown that the drying of coffee beans is a diffusion controlled pro-
cess, where no first drying stage can be located. Hence, the effec-
tive internal diffusion coefficient is the dominating transport
coefficient for the description of mass transfer during the drying
process. The temperature dependency of the effective diffusion
coefficient is expressed by the Arrhenius relationship taking into
account the moisture as well:
 
Ea
Deff ¼ Dw;a exp expðbX Þ ð10Þ
Rc T
An effective diffusion coefficient is calculated based on the ini-
tial moisture content. This coefficient is used within the analytical
solution of diffusion inside a sphere according to Crank (1975) for
calculating the moisture after the next time interval which on its
turn is again inserted in Eq. (10). Successively a complete drying
curve is determined which is compared to experimental results
for adjusting Ea and b.

30
GAB 30 °C
GAB 40 °C
25 GAB 50 °C
humidity of coffee (% (db))

GAB 60 °C
EXP 30 °C
20 EXP 40 °C
EXP 50 °C
EXP 60 °C
15

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Relative humidity of air (%)

Fig. 7. Experimental data and GAB-isotherms for 30–60 °C.

 K. Burmester, R. Eggers / Journal of Food Engineering 99 (2010) 430–436 435

 
XðtÞ  X eq 6 X
1
1 2p
2
The analytical solution for the diffusion inside a sphere accord-
¼ 2 exp n D eff t ð11Þ
X 0  X eq p n¼1 n2 R2 ing to Crank was derived under assumption of constant diffusion
coefficient and radius of the sphere. Nevertheless, these data have
The water content is used as an average value over the coffee been used in Eq. (11) for short intervals of time as different con-
bean. As the temperature dependency the constant gas tempera- stant values. The temperature and humidity dependency of the
ture is applied. The first data points have not been considered effective diffusion coefficient are found to be Ea = 33.5 kJ/mol and
for determining the diffusion coefficient, because although the b = 1.5 kg/kg. Fig. 8 shows drying curves for a relative gas humidity
coffee drying itself is controlled by diffusion a short period of of around 10% (supersaturated LiCl solution) and three different
externally controlled drying occurs, if the coffee is not skin dry gas temperatures under conditions of free convection. The experi-
and some amount of free water is located on the surface of mental values are represented as dots and the drying curves calcu-
the coffee bean. lated by the analytical solution according to Crank (1975) are
The change of radius is taken into account in Eq. (11) by the fol- shown as lines. The determined effective diffusion coefficient is
lowing relation, which is based on the assumption, that the coffee in the same range as those published for other food materials
volume depended linearly on the moisture content (Section 3.3). and leads to a good representation of the experimental drying
curves. Additionally the evolution of the surface temperature is
R ¼ R0 ð1 þ w  w0 ÞÞ1=3 ð12Þ shown in Fig. 9 for the associated experiments. At the beginning

1.0
46°C-1 46°C-2 Fit 46°C
55°C-1 55°C-2 Fit 55°C
69°C-1 69°C-2 Fit 69°C
0.8
Reduced humidity

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0
0 5 10 15 20
Time (h)

Fig. 8. Drying curves for different air temperatures and 10% relative air humidity.

80

70
Surface temperature (°C)

60

50

40
46°C-1 46°C-2
55°C-1 55°C-2
69°C-1 69°C-2
30
0 5 10 15 20
Time (h)

Fig. 9. Surface temperature evolution for different air temperatures and 10% relative air humidity.
436 K. Burmester, R. Eggers / Journal of Food Engineering 99 (2010) 430–436
a heating period takes place, followed by a period of an almost con-
stant surface temperature. Finally the coffee bean will reach the
temperature of the surrounding gas, when the coffee bean is dried
to the equilibrium value and no more energy is consumed to evap-
orate water. The higher the drying temperature and thereby the
faster the drying takes place, the shorter is the duration of the con-
stant temperature period.
The period of constant surface temperature may be misinter-
preted as a first drying stage, which is controlled by the external
mass transfer, but the drying velocity observed in the experiments
is much slower than the theoretical drying velocity of the first dry-
ing stage. The period of constant surface temperature represents a
period of an equilibrium between the energy input and the energy
consumption for evaporating water. At the end of drying the drying
velocity decreases, which is probably related to structural changes
of the coffee bean.
4. Conclusions
The drying process is controlled by the diffusive internal mass
transfer, hence, no so called first drying stage could be observed.
Thereby, the drying rate is mainly influenced by the temperature
of the drying gas. To enhance the throughput of the batch-process
and the efficiency of the process the temperature should be in-
creased but taking into account sensitivity of the coffee.
An increase of gas velocity does have an influence on the pro-
cess, as long as the gas becomes saturated. A reduction of relative
air humidity has a low influence on the drying rate, but a strong
influence on the equilibrium humidity of the coffee. Due to the fact
that for the roasting process a coffee humidity of 11% is demanded,
the equilibrium moisture content of the coffee beans is not decisive
for the industrial drying process, which leads to the conclusion that
the installation of additional equipment for reducing the initial gas
humidity is not required.
For the process optimization, the application of a higher gas
temperature at the beginning of the process and a lower tempera-
ture at the end of the process is recommended.
Acknowledgement
This research project was supported by the German Ministry of
Economics and Technology (via AIF) and the FEI (Forschungskreis
der Ernährungsindus-trie e.V., Bonn). Project AIF 14950 N.
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Further Reading
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Trocknungstechnik, third ed. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.