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Degassing system® by BMM/Colombini. Photo credit: BMM/Colombini
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Degassing system® by BMM/Colombini. Photo credit: BMM/Colombini
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Degassing system® with Colombini MAC5 grinder. Photo credit: BMM/Colombini.
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Degassing system® with Colombini MAC3 grinder. Photo credit: BMM/Colombini.
Since 2017, Colombini has been distributing the innovative Degassing system®, produced by BMM Technology, the first to use high vacuum technology to accelerate degassing. And it is the only one, even today, capable of significantly reducing energy consumption and nitrogen requirements throughout the process, from grinding to storage to packaging, always in zero-oxygen conditions.
Coffee degassing
From the roasting process onward, the coffee begins to release carbon dioxide, initiating a degassing process. However, “natural” degassing is now unsuitable for the coffee industry: it takes too long, is influenced by climatic and environmental variables, as well as the different characteristics of the blends, and increases the risk of product contact with oxygen, resulting in oxidation and loss of quality.
It is, however, essential to prevent excessive CO2 residue from escaping after packaging, causing vacuum packs to bulge and the top of single-dose capsules to peel off. Nowadays, it is therefore necessary to force and carefully control the process at every stage: from bean delivery to grinding, to feeding the degassing silos, to storage and conservation, to transport to the packaging machines while improving it where possible.
“Made in Italy” innovation and research
In degassing processes, it is established practice to use nitrogen, an inert gas that does not alter the characteristics of the coffee, sometimes under vacuum conditions, albeit with not very high depressions. However, it has been proven that the simple introduction of nitrogen into the silos, which is effective in preserving the organoleptic characteristics of the coffee, does not affect degassing times.
The main innovation introduced by the Degassing system® was to use high vacuum, with very high pressures down to –800 mbar (compared to the –200 mbar of systems on the market) alternating with high pressure cycles with nitrogen injection (up to +300 mbar). The right combination of these two phases accelerates the degassing process, causing greater stress on the walls of the coffee cells, which in this way release CO2 more quickly, saving up to 40% time, also thanks to a more uniform distribution of nitrogen throughout the volume inside the silo.
High vacuum, high efficiency, highest quality
The Degassing system® was the first in the world to use high vacuum technology from the transport of beans to the grinder to the transport of ground coffee to the silos, and from the silos to packaging and finally for storage of the product at the end of the degassing process.
This solution provides numerous advantages:
- minimizes the need for nitrogen for both transport and storage of the ground coffee while awaiting packaging, which can be done either in vacuum or under pressure, resulting in considerable cost savings;
- no moving mechanical parts during transport, reducing energy costs and eliminating maintenance and repair costs;
- zero risk of product oxidation
- unaltered particle size distribution of the ground coffee throughout the process, thanks to transport of the ground coffee in the semi-dense phase.
Unrivalled energy savings and cost savings
The advantages of the Degassing system® are obvious and are confirmed by the over 50 companies around the world that have chosen this solution.
Data collected from active plants have shown that the use of high vacuum alternating with high pressure cycles can reduce degassing times by up to 40%, resulting in fewer silos, reducing investment and factory space occupied.
Nitrogen consumption is up to 10 times lower than average, minimized both for transport and storage and during the degassing cycle, thanks to extremely short total process times. For example, during degassing a 650 kg silo uses 5 m3/h of nitrogen, and a 250 kg silo less than 2 m3/h There is no lower consumption system on the market today.
All this translates into financial savings of tens of thousands of euros per year.
Unparalleled degassing
The Degassing system®, available in different sizes and adaptable to every production requirement and packaging system, has for several years remained the only one on the market capable of reducing degassing times, significantly reducing costs and energy and nitrogen consumption, while always ensuring high quality of the ground product.
Info www.colombini.srl