A Biotechnological Approach for Decaffeination

Sarath Babu, V. R. (2007) A Biotechnological Approach for Decaffeination. PhD thesis, University of Mysore.

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Abstract

Tea and coffee are consumed largely world over. India is one of the largest exporters of coffee and tea and these beverages form a part of the major foreign exchange earner for our country. Presence of caffeine limits the frequent intake of these beverages,the reason being the toxic and addictive effects of caffeine when taken in large doses leading to a need for the decaffeination of coffee and tea. The market for decaffeinated products is increasing at 10-15% Per annum. However conventional decaffeination technologies use toxic solvents, and methods, which not only strip the essential flavor and aroma components, but also are expensive, and environmentally unsafe. The present day shift is towards safe and economical processes for decaffeination through biotechnological route (biodecaffeination) are considered as the best alternative to the existing methods of decaffeination. This thesis reports the development of a process for biodecaffeination of caffeine containing materials by suitable microorganisms and enzymes. The work involved the isolation, characterization and identification of potent microorganisms capable of degrading caffeine, selection of the efficient organisms for caffeine degradation and optimization of parameters of growth and caffeine degradation. Further work was carried out on the identification of enzyme/enzymes responsible for caffeine degradation, immobilization of whole cells and enzymes for bio-decaffeination and optimization of parameters for efficient bio-decaffeination by the immobilized cell/enzyme system. Work was also carried out on the development of biodecaffeination processes for coffee, tea and caffeine containing solutions. Development of biodecaffeination process for tea and coffee involved several complex problems to be solved for application to the real samples, which are detailed in the thesis with the following objectives: 1. Isolation, purification, characterization and identification of microbial cultures for decaffeination. 2. Selection of the efficient organisms for caffeine degradation. 3. Optimization of parameters of growth and caffeine degradation by the selected microorganisms. 4. Identification of enzyme/enzymes responsible for caffeine degradation. 5. Immobilization of whole cells for bio-decaffeination. 6. Immobilization of enzymes responsible for bio-decaffeination. 7. Optimization of parameters for efficient bio-decaffeination by the immobilized cell/enzyme system.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	tea decaffeination caffeine degradation biodecaffeination coffee
Subjects:	600 Technology > 07 Beverage Technology > 08 Tea 600 Technology > 07 Beverage Technology > 04 Coffee 600 Technology > 05 Chemical engineering > 01 Biotechnology and Bioengineering
Divisions:	Fermentation Technology and Bioengineering
Depositing User:	Food Sci. & Technol. Information Services
Date Deposited:	06 Jun 2008 05:31
Last Modified:	03 Jul 2015 08:12
URI:	http://ir.cftri.res.in/id/eprint/1741

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