Moisture balances are a fast and accurate direct method of moisture determination, compared to an oven test, which can take many hours to complete.
A moisture balance also weighs and heats a sample simultaneously, reducing errors caused by moisture evaporation during transport and weighing.
Different types of heat sources, and advanced software, offer extreme versatility in exploring a samples drying characteristics. Many coffee related products, because of their dark color, which absorbs more heat, and because they contain evaporative oils and compounds, must be carefully prepared, and even more carefully scrutinizedwhen conducting a test for moisture determination.
MOISTURE, PARTICLE CHARACTERIZATION, COLOR, AND SAMPLING
PRACTICAL ALTERNATIVES OR SUPPLEMENTS TO LABORATORY OVENS
Low temperature electric ovens for thermal processing to 350 c.
High quality construction utilizing advanced technologies.
Single and multiple chambers, natural convection or forced air.
Quality Management System certified by
Bureau Veritas Quality International in
compliance with ISO 9001:2008 / LST
EN ISO 9001:2008 standards
LABORATORY OVENS
The official method for moisture determination in green coffee is listed under ISO 6673, and specifies the sample to be heated in a forced air,low temperature oven, for a period of 16 hours.
Every material has unique thermal emission and absorption characteristics.
Emissivity is a measure of the efficiency in which a surface emits thermal energy. It is equal to the amount of thermal energy it can absorb, once temperature equilibration has been attained.
A black body is a material that is a perfect emitter of heat energy and has an emissivity value of 1. Coffee is in the range of .7 to .9
Here you can see a halogen (Short Wave ir), on the left, and next to it an IR Emitter Heat Source (Mid Range IR), on the right. There is a visible difference in the brightness of the light. The IR Emitter Heat Source, is used for coffee application, as it speeds up the process.
