Innovative Hopper Design for Decaffeinating Coffee Beans The Need T. Anthony (“Tony”) Royal, a vice president with Jenike & Johanson, was named as a co-inventor on a patent for a unique pressure vessel and lock hopper system used to decaffeinate green coffee beans. During the process, caffeine-free liquid carbon dioxide enters near the bottom of the vessel and flows in an upward direction, through a contact bed of stationary beans. The liquid becomes caffeine-laden and exits near the top of the vessel. Using lock hoppers, small batches of fresh beans are periodically introduced into the top of the 5,000 psi processing vessel, with an equal amount of decaffeinated beans withdrawn from the bottom. It was critical that the new equipment would operate as intended, because its expected high c

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