GLEICHZEITIGE KAFFEE-HYDROLYSE UND OELEXTRAKTION

A method of simultaneously hydrolyzing spent coffee grounds and extracting the coffee oil therefrom is disclosed. Spent coffee grounds are slurried in water and the pH is adjusted by the addition of an acid to the slurry. A water-immiscible oil solvent is combined with and dispersed as fine droplets in the slurry. The dispersion is then passed through a reactor, preferably a plug flow reactor, so as to hydrolyze the spent coffee grounds and extract the coffee oil into the oil solvent droplets. The then coffee oil-containing oil solvent is separated from the aqueous hydrolysate and the spent grounds are also separated from the hydrolysate. The coffee oil is optionally recovered from the oil solvent and the aqueous hydrolysate is optionally neutralized and combined with a soluble coffee extract.