The company said this will make it the first business in the world to process beans on a large scale with a heat source that others in the food and beverage industry are taking note of.

Hydrogen as a fuel is not only eco-friendly since burning it produces no carbon dioxide emissions, but it also has the potential to draw out a bean’s distinct flavors; adjusting heat levels is much easier compared to conventionally used natural gas, officials of the Kobe-based coffee manufacturer said.

UCC began its research on hydrogen roasting sometime around 2022.

Although it has its own shortcomings and processing it into a useable fuel source can ironically result in CO2 output, hydrogen is still considered a much cleaner alternative.

This is especially true if, like UCC, businesses stick to creating “green hydrogen.” In this carbon-free process, solar, wind or other renewable energy is used to generate the electricity needed for the process of splitting hydrogen atoms from water molecules.

Company officials said hydrogen-fueled coffee roasting will mark the first step toward the UCC Group’s stated goal of achieving net zero CO2 emissions group-wide by 2040.

HIDDEN IN THE BEANS

The advantages don’t end there.

Flavors and aromas of coffee beans, such as acidity and bitterness, can vary according to how long and at what temperatures they are roasted.

Using hydrogen makes it possible to adjust heat levels across a broader range.

It particularly allows coffee to be roasted for a long time over a very low flame, which natural gas cannot sustain stably. Company officials said they have found that such a process increases the bitterness and fruity flavors.

“Hydrogen roasting can bring out individual characteristics of coffee beans that we never knew about previously,” said Tomohiro Fujiwara, a manager with UCC’s production department. “And that will broaden flavor options.”

UPSCALE AUDIENCE

UCC sold its hydrogen-roasted coffee made at its factory in Tatsuno, Hyogo Prefecture, in limited quantities last autumn.

Coffee beans grown in Ethiopia were used in the process. The resulting roast was characterized by “fruity notes reminiscent of ripe berries,” the officials said.

In its runup to mass production, the company is spending about 1 billion yen ($6.6 million) to add a large-scale hydrogen roaster to its factory in Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture, and will use green hydrogen made in Yamanashi Prefecture.

The equipment has the capacity to roast 6,000 tons of coffee beans per year, worth more than 10 percent of the company’s annual domestic production.

The hydrogen-roasted coffee is expected to go on sale in earnest from April and onward.

As for cost, its price tag is anticipated to be several ten percent higher than its conventionally made counterparts to reflect hydrogen currently being several times more expensive than natural gas to produce, especially if renewable energy is involved.

It will likely be sold wholesale and served at hotels and on flights as a “high added-value product,” company officials shared. They also said it will be available to everyday shoppers at a website and cafes operated directly by the UCC Group.

WHISKEY AND BUTTER

Other food manufacturers are also moving to use hydrogen as a heat source in place of natural gas and other standard fuel.

Suntory Holdings Ltd. became the world’s first whiskey producer last year to successfully use hydrogen as the sole heat source in the “direct-fired distillation” process. The company traditionally used city-sourced gas.

The current approach among the industry's distilleries is using gas for “indirect distillation.” This method involves a pot still of alcohol being heated with steam sent through the still's internal pipes.

The slower and more forgiving rise in temperature makes uniformly heating a still less of a struggle, while fiddling with steam valves offers a more immediate way to adjust heat levels than a still directly exposed to an open gas flame.

The tradeoff is that direct firing produces “full-bodied and powerful flavors,” company officials said.

Suntory is hoping to draw on this technology to mass-produce unblended whiskey at its Hakushu Distillery in Yamanashi Prefecture in the years to come.

The company also has plans to start using hydrogen by the end of this year at a plant next door where Suntory Natural Mineral Water is produced.

Meanwhile, Kirin Holdings Co. said Feb. 7 that starting in 2026, it will burn green hydrogen to make steam at a brewery in Chitose, Hokkaido. It will then be used to boil wort liquid from the beer-making processes as well as sterilize equipment.

Megmilk Snow Brand Co. is another entity looking into hydrogen. From fiscal 2025, it plans to experiment with combining hydrogen and natural gas at a ratio of around 40 percent.

It hopes to burn the mixture to produce steam to be used, among other things, to pasteurize butter and skim milk powder products at its dairy plant in Horonobe, Hokkaido.

All three companies are partnered with businesses that create hydrogen on or near the premises of the respective plants. These setups use renewable and other energy sources and are intended to reduce the cost of hydrogen transportation.

Figures from the Environment Ministry show that food and beverage manufacturers’ CO2 emissions accounted for 1.6 percent of Japan’s overall output in fiscal 2022.

These CO2 emissions at food and other plants that result from power consumption could be cut down to zero if all the electrical power used was derived from renewable energy sources.

However, the reality is that gas remains the go-to fuel, including in situations requiring higher levels of heat.

UCC and other companies’ forays into whether relying on hydrogen is viable may influence whether it becomes an industry standard in the coming years.

Source: https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15632425

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