New coffee roastery to Löfbergs from Probat
Over many years Probat has supplied process solutions to coffee producers together with Kafeko in the Nordic area. From small single projects up to complete roasteries. One of the complete roasteries is described below, which was sold to Löfbergs in 2019 and finalized in 2021.
To build a complete new greenfield roastery for processing coffee takes time and large effort from all parties involved. However, thanks to a long and trustful relationship between Löfbergs and Kafeko/Probat the project went very well, although that a very unexpected topic, Covid, put it on hold for a while, says Göran Sonesson, chief production officer at Löfbergs.
– With Probat, who has been a supplier to Löfbergs over several decades, the needs from us as customer was very well understood, and the new plant were designed to match our needs of today were the increased volumes of whole bean production has been the driver for this project. A new plant designed for today’s needs and flexible to extend for the coming market demands.
The planning of Löfbergs new roastery started in 2018 and the design was ready in 2019. Delivery and installation started in 2020, and early summer in 2021 the first batches of coffee was processed.
Löfbergs new roastery starts with green coffee recieving which can handle small 60-70 kg bags all the way up to large container bags of 21 ton. From here the coffee is cleaned, weight and checked before it reaches the storage area containing 15 silos. Out of these silos the green coffee batch is weight and sent to the roasting machine, in this case a Neptune 3000 drum roaster, equipped with “state-of-the-art” exhauster gas treatment for the roast gases. After roasting the coffee it is sent to rest before it reaches the packaging area, partly also supplied via partner of Kafeko.
The installed roaster capacity is 3 ton green coffee per hour, or 10 000 ton per year in full production.
About Probat
Since 1868 PROBAT has stood for pioneering solutions in the processing of coffee. They have become the world market leader in machinery and systems for the coffee and food industry. Employ approx. 1000 people around the world at sites in the USA, Brazil, Italy, Scotland, India and Canada. Probat also share a passion for coffee and a fascination for technology with representatives in over 40 countries. Each one of these is an important brand ambassador for PROBAT.
Roasters from Probat
PROBAT’s product range covers drum, tangential and centrifugal roasters. These can be used to create all kinds of roasts for the most specialised applications and all product segments.
The Classic
A drum roaster which rotates on a horizontal axis is the most conventional method of roasting coffee as well as the traditional form of slow roasting coffee. The PROBAT drum roaster system NEPTUNE is the culmination of the development of traditional slow-roasted coffee. Exquisite slow roasts can be guaranteed with capacities of 1,500 and 3,000 kilogram/hour (kg/h). The NEPTUNE roaster’s different designs and extensive variety of configurations allow it to meet the most diverse range of customer requirements.
Where coffee is roasted anywhere between 8 and 20 minutes, the thermal energy generated in the NEPTUNE roasters is transferred to the coffee beans over a longer period of time, resulting in the coffee beans developing highly intense flavor. The different methods available to influence the roasting profile make these roasters ideal for espresso beans and special coffees with particularly intense flavor.
The NEPTUNE not only stands out thanks to its impressive quality, but also thanks to its remarkable functionality: The variable emptying speed reduces cycle times, whereas the special shovel mechanism provides optimal blending while handling the product with care. Effective cooling guarantees constant product quality. The burner temperature is infinitely variable; the optimum utilization of thermal energy reduces energy consumption. info Neptune roasters
The NEPTUNE roasting machines are also available as a hydrogen-powered version. A retrofit kit for installed roasting systems is available on request. Learn more about PROBAT’s scalable solutions for the use of alternative energy sources in roasting processes here.
Probat’s environmental technologies for the coffee industry
At PROBAT, we strive every day to develop sustainable technologies for coffee processing that help reduce emissions from roasting processes. A broad portfolio of environmental technologies is already making a significant contribution to continuously reducing external effects in the coffee processing industry – an important multiplier effect. For more transparency in the value chain, PROBAT has developed an industry-specific CO2 calculator that allows the analysis of the emissions of a coffee processing plant depending on different parameters.
We hope you find this information interesting, and we are happy to help you further with your ideas and plans for your future process- and packaging lines.