Real-time monitoring of a coffee roasting process with near infrared spectroscopy using multivariate statistical analysis: A feasibility study

This work proposes the use of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy in diffuse reflectance mode and multivariate statistical process control (MSPC) based on principal component analysis (PCA) for real-time monitoring of the coffee roasting process. The main objective was the development of a MSPC methodology able to early detect disturbances to the roasting process resourcing to real-time acquisition of NIR spectra. A total of fifteen roasting batches were defined according to an experimental design to develop the MSPC models. This methodology was tested on a set of five batches where disturbances of different nature were imposed to simulate real faulty situations. Some of these batches were used to optimize the model while the remaining was used to test the methodology. A modelling strategy based on a time sliding window provided the best results in terms of distinguishing batches with and without disturbances, resourcing to typical MSPC charts: Hotelling's T2 and squared predicted error statistics. A PCA model encompassing a time window of four minutes with three principal components was able to efficiently detect all disturbances assayed. NIR spectroscopy combined with the MSPC approach proved to be an adequate auxiliary tool for coffee roasters to detect faults in a conventional roasting process in real-time.