Hazardous Carbon Monoxide and Carbon Monoxide Emissions from Roasted Coffee Beans
Abstract
Introduction: Navy ships and facilities commonly store large quantities of roasted coffee beans. There have been reports of sailors being adversely affected by of carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from these beans. This creates a need for guidelines that will abate the risks associated with storage of roasted coffee. Objective: Determine the emission rate of CO and CO2 of different roasts of coffee beans at different temperatures, and to construct a model that predicts the amount of CO and CO2 offgassing given a known value of mass, roast, time from roast date, and storage temperature. Methods: Coffee samples varying in mass, roast type, and storage temperature were monitored for 20 days with the Gasmet DX4040 FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) gas analyzer to quantify the amount of CO and CO2 generated. Results: An increase in mass correlated with in an increase in CO and CO2 emissions; emissions ratio trends observed are light roasts emit a larger ratio of CO2:CO than dark roasts, higher storage temperature results in a lower emissions ratio of CO2:CO, increasing mass lowers the emission ratio of CO2:CO, and the emissions ratio of CO2:CO slowly decreases overtime; average CO and CO2 emissions generally increased with an increase in storage temperature; dark roasted coffee beans produce significantly more CO and CO2 emissions than light roasts; Conclusion: Further research is needed, but this experiment has collected enough data to conclude that a clear hazard exists and that large quantities of roasted coffee should not be stored in an unventilated and unmonitored storage space.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 25, 2019
- Accession Number
- AD1181552
Entities
People
- Warner C Wilson
Organizations
- Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences