Centrifuge technology enabled El Café to increase coffee processing capacity from 4,500 to 30,000 liters per hour while reducing operating costs and environmental impact. The Flottweg AC2500 centrifuges use high-speed rotating disks to achieve precise clarification and separation of solids from liquid extract.
- El Café upgraded from multiple machines processing 1,500-4,500 L/hour to two Flottweg AC2500 centrifuges capable of 30,000 L/hour combined
- The centrifuges use 9,000 times gravitational force to separate fine particles, enabling cleaner product clarification
- Operating costs decreased significantly through lower energy consumption, fewer spare parts, and reduced wear
- Sustainability improved via reduced energy use, lower water consumption, and byproduct recovery
- Processing throughput increased 3-4 times with automated continuous processing capabilities
As demand for coffee grows, processors must find ways to produce quality products. That often means possessing the right machinery. El Café, an instant coffee producer based in Montecristi, Ecuador, offers products nationally and internationally, and found that the use of Flottweg AC2500 centrifuges aided its processing volumes while providing efficiency and sustainability benefits, according to insight provided by Matthias Meyer, Application Manager for Flottweg.
El Café supplies instant coffee in powder, agglomerated, and freeze-dried forms to companies, spanning a global reach. When evaluating its production system, El Café found that its existing machines processed between 1,500 and 4,500 L of coffee extract per hour. This required multiple machines running in parallel to meet production demand, which also meant more units needed to be maintained. That’s when the company decided to invest in two disc stack Flottweg AC2500 centrifuges, which, through a combined effort, can produce up to 30,000 L of clarified extract per hour.
El Café knew the centrifuge upgrade was necessary, given the old machinery’s demanding requirements.
“We are committed to a new design, a new system, one that helps us obtain a cleaner product,” explains Jonathan Quijije, Assistant Project Manager at El Café.
El Café worked with MasterSolution, a local partner, to confirm the AC2500’s advantages.
“We selected the Flottweg AC2500 model because of its processing capacity, its technical advantages in terms of energy consumption and efficiency, lower spare parts usage, and reduced operating costs,” says MasterSolution Technical Manager Gustavo Lopez.
Achieving greater separation for greater benefits
Separation processing, which involves removing fine particles from an extract, impacts efficiency downstream, explains Meyer. The AC2500 centrifuges help El Café achieve more precise coffee clarification due to the technology’s self-cleaning clarifiers designed to finely separate solids from liquids.
The centrifuges use a high-speed rotating bowl equipped with a stack of disks. Coffee extract enters the bowl, and centrifugal force of as much as 9,000 times gravity drives solid particles outward. The disk pack increases the clarification surfaces, which enables the capture of fine particles.
Next, separated solids accumulate in the bowl, where a hydraulic mechanism ejects them. At the same time, clarified liquid is discharged under pressure by a centripetal pump. The system is automated, which allows El Café to perform continuous processing at high throughput.
The AC2500’s ability to enable both partial and full discharges allows operators to adapt to varying feed conditions. In addition, the technology’s hygienic design, durability, and integrated controls systems have helped produce results for El Café’s operations.
In addition to increasing throughput three to four-fold, the centrifuges have helped El Café decrease operating costs. The systems consume less energy relative to output, require fewer spare parts, and experience lower wear. Moreover, the investment in the clarifiers supports the company’s sustainability goals, as such modern centrifuges lower energy use, reduce water consumption through extended CIP intervals, and recover byproducts to reduce environmental footprint, explains Meyer.
El Café’s efficiency gains from its centrifuge upgrade could be a benefit that motivates other coffee processors to consider newer technology that helps them better serve their customers and operate their business.
