Water injection automation in coffee production

The food industry is in constant evolution when the subject is measurement. Controlling exact amounts of condiments, spices and all sort of ingredients is directly related to important quality factors like consistency, flavour and processing times.

Monitoring moisture with M-Sens 2

Coffee is a daily drink for a lot of people, which means people can quickly notice small changes in the flavour. During the manufacturing process, coffee should be roasted in specific temperature ranges and flavor is directly connected to the moisture content. One of Global Automation’s customers asked for a measurement system to monitor moisture after the final roaster.

In that part of the process, it is essential to maintain the desired flavour characteristics for conveying through to the packing process and deliver the taste that customers appreciate.

Process data

• Customer: Coffee producer
• Product: Coffee beans
• Moisture range: 3.5–5%
• Installation: Slide after final roaster
• Function: Control water injection into the roaster

The solution

The M-Sens 2 measures continuously up to 65% of moisture content in materials conveyed on different devices such as screw feeders, conveyor belts and slides. In the described application, measuring the moisture makes it possible to determine when and how much water should be injected into the final coffee roasting process. After the automatic control, the manufacturing process became more reliable, due to online measurement that makes sure that as soon the moisture content changes a new set point for the water injection lines is updated.

User benefit

• Online control of the water injection
• Avoidance of missing moisture changes
• Measurement through the beans