The Gospel of Bean Baker: Italian engineers have developed a pure solar coffee bean roaster that will effectively reduce carbon emissions!

If you are a bean baker, then you must know that there are three main types of roasters on the market today: direct fire, semi-direct fire, and hot air, and no matter which type of roaster is the main source of energy. But today's story may refresh your knowledge of traditional bean dryers.

Antonio Durbe tests the functionality of the Pure Sun solar light coffee roaster in Rome, Italy, October 13, 2021. (AP Photo)

In fact, a long time ago, there were practitioners in the United States who introduced solar coffee baking to advocate environmental protection. But this baking method has not been put into mass production. Italian technology company PuroSole has developed an innovative facility for roasting coffee beans using renewable energy. The project is an efficient way to bake using solar energy that PuroSole co-founders Daniele Tommei and Antonio Durbè have spent nearly six years developing.

According to Durbe and Tummei, the coffee roasting plant runs entirely on solar energy. No fossil fuels such as natural gas and electricity are used, everything uses solar energy, and zero energy consumption. Sunlight is concentrated by a set of mirrors on the coffee roaster, which uses the heat generated by solar radiation to generate electricity through light-heat-electricity conversion. Here, mirrors act as solar collectors, while computer-controlled sensors are mirrors that follow the sun around the clock, focusing light on the bean dryer. The sun's rays shine directly on the coffee, heating the beans and warming the air around them. Depending on the brightness of the sun, the temperature that the bean dryer can reach will also vary, and the peak temperature of the bean dryer can reach 240-250 degrees Celsius.

The process of roasting coffee with solar energy is not only environmentally friendly but also economically convenient. Official figures show that the company can avoid reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 400 kilograms per ton of roasted coffee, which is also the biggest highlight of the company's sales of this roaster. And in sunny southern Italy, a factory with 40 mirrors can roast up to 30000 kilograms of coffee beans a year, saving about 60000 kilowatts of electricity.

Not only that, Durbe and Tummei believe that the dryer can also better preserve the aroma of coffee, so that the roasted coffee beans have a richer taste, of course, this "how good your own children are" saying, we still try it first. At present, this pure solar bean dryer can be purchased online. But due to the limitations of the bean dryer itself, the company's main goal is to sell their solar coffee roasters to local businesses rich in light energy.

From official photos, the coders found that unlike traditional bean dryers, PuroSole designed a baking system rather than a solar bean dryer because it relies on natural light sources and requires light collection and conversion devices. Roasting is demanding: with an area nearly half the size of a tennis court and sunny weather, yield performance is even better: nearly 50 kilograms of coffee beans can be roasted per hour.

The beholder sees the benevolence, the wise see the wisdom. Through the practice of PuroSole Company, it can be found that the bean dryer can indeed achieve mass production results in places with abundant light energy resources, effectively reducing carbon emissions is also conducive to environmental protection, but excessive dependence on weather is the reason why many bean bakers hesitate. Unable to start baking at any time means unstable and unsecured supply, which is a taboo in the market. I don't know if such pure solar baking can survive. What do you think in front of the screen?

Photo credit: Daily Sabah

FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou China, selling freshly roasted beans from its own farm in Yunnan as well as dozens of carefully selected single-origin beans from around the world for both pour-over and espresso. The products deliver consistently excellent quality and great value, with shipping within 24 hours. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers, and the beans are now available online at the Tmall 。

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