Colombian coffee growers' moisture content determination problem

Coffee is not just one of the most popular beverages worldwide, but also a national symbol in

Colombia. Colombia is one of the four main coffee-exporters in the world. Its coffee production

was valued at US$2.3 billion and it represented 16% of the national agricultural GDP in 2010

(Andrade et. al, 2014). Colombian coffee is harvested by hand, in contrast to other major coffee-

growing countries where coffee is harvested mechanically. Harvesting coffee by hand causes the

employment of a large number of small-scale farmers. In fact, coffee growing is the largest

source of rural employment in the country ( Andrade et. al, 2014). On the other hand, the quality

of the coffee final product is defined by several factors. One of those factors is moisture because

it affects coffee bean's shelf life. Thus, the determination of coffee bean moisture content is key

to ensure safe transport and storage and to avoid the risk of mold development (Caporaso et. al,

2018). But moisture analyzers commercially available are expensive. Those devices are

affordable for industries, but not for small-scale farmers. And as it was mentioned before

Colombian coffee production is essentially a family-run operation, in which all of the harvesting

and post-harvest processing is carried out by the growers themselves.

To tackle this problem it is needed to develop a portable, low-cost, rapid and non-destructive

device to determine the moisture content in coffee grain beans. Due to the moisture content in

coffee grains are related to their dielectric properties, a good technique to base the device on is

capacitance (Reh et al., 2006). This technique works as follows: first, the sensor capacitor is

filled with coffee grains, which act as a dielectric. Afterward, changes of moisture content affect
the dielectric constant of the grains, which makes a variation in capacitance. Last, the resultant

capacitance variation is converted to voltage variation and calibrated in terms of moisture

percentage (Rai et. al, 2010).

Figure 1. Moisture dependence of the dielectric constant of shelled

yellow-dent field corn at indicated frequencies. (Kandala et. al, 2007)

The performance of devices based on capacitance technique depends on the frequency at which

the device works. Figure 1 shows the result of a study, conducted by Kandala et. al, about the

relations between moisture content and dielectric constant of shelled yellow-dent field corn at

different frequencies. As shown in the graph, the relation mentioned above is almost linear in the

range of 1MHz to 11GHz. However, the ratio among values on the y-axis is more pronounced for

1MHz frequency. This characteristic suggests a better performance for 1MHz frequency in the

moisture sensor device to operate because the change of dielectric constant is bigger for the

change moisture content.

 Figure 2. Comparison of MC values as determined by the air–oven and
impedance methods (average of 30 peanut kernels). (Kandala et. al, 2007).

On the other hand, an importance feature of the proposed device is accuracy. It is needed to have

a reference in order to calibrate the device in a proper way that ensures a good precision. In

moisture determination the more common reference that is used is mass loss on oven-dry. So, a

comparison of moisture content values determined by mass loos and capacitance methods is

displayed in the figure 2. The graph indicates that a higher value of moisture content the

difference between these two methods is more remarkable. Despite of this, the error due to the

capacitance device is inside an acceptable range for the device to works on.

The optimal moisture range is between 8% and 12%, so a precise determination is crucial. This

can be achieved easily through the use of a device such as the one proposed earlier. This solution

allows for addressing the drawbacks that may occur in green coffee beans due to a high or low
moisture content. In addition, this leads to greater profits for the coffee grower and a better

product for the end user because this significantly improves coffee quality (Wintgens, 2004).

References

Andrade, R., Oderby, D., & Rice, J. (2014). Coffee in Colombia: Waking Up to an Opportunity.
Retrieved October 26, 2018, from http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/coffee-in-
colombia-waking-up-to-an-opportunity/

Caporaso, N., Whitworth, M. B., Grebby, S., & Fisk, I. D. (2018). Rapid prediction of single
green coffee bean moisture and lipid content by hyperspectral imaging. Journal of Food
Engineering, 227, 18-29. doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2018.01.009

Kandala, C., Butts, C., & Nelson, S. (2007). Capacitance Sensor for Nondestructive
Measurement of Moisture Content in Nuts and Grain. 2005 IEEE Instrumentationand
Measurement Technology Conference Proceedings. doi:10.1109/imtc.2005.1604191

Rai, R., Sivadasan, K., & Murty, S. (2010). A low cost field usable portable digital grain
moisture meter with direct display of moisture (%). African Journal of Science and Technology,
6(1). doi:10.4314/ajst.v6i1.55169

Reh, C., Gerber, A., Prodolliet, J., & Vuataz, G. (2006). Water content determination in green
coffee – Method comparison to study specificity and accuracy. Food Chemistry, 96(3), 423-430.
doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2005.02.055

Wintgens, J. N. (2004). Factors Influencing the Quality of Green Coffee. Coffee: Growing,
Processing, Sustainable Production, 789-809. doi:10.1002/9783527619627.ch29