BANDUNG, lppm.itb.ac.id-

Monday, November 1, 2021, the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) Community Service Team built a building for solar-powered coffee drying. This development resulted from a green house that functions as a trap for solar energy. "The goal is to reduce the water content of the coffee cherries to the remaining 10-12 percent," said the head of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) Community Service team, Dr. Yayat Hidayat, quoted from tempo.co.

To create a building that is hot from the sun, this building must be tightly closed. Access to this building is only from a door. In addition, this building needs a ventilator to prevent wet or steamy air from entering the air circulation.

The building was erected on Saturday, October 30, 2021 by the Gunung Geulis Coffee Farmer Community in Jatiroke Village, Jatinangor, Sumedang Regency. This development was carried out independently by the residents of Jatiroke Village, starting from the design, use of materials, to completion. "The team of lecturers only conveyed their knowledge in meetings with the community," said Dr. Yayat Hidayat.

Yayat said the background for making green house coffee dryers is because the coffee fruit drying process is one of the factors that affect the quality of processed coffee products. The quality of the drying results is known when the coffee beans are roasted.

Built in an area of ​​11 x 4 meters with a height of 2 meters, this place is made with a framework of bamboo. This adjusts the production capacity of the coffee harvested to be dried. Meanwhile, the roof is made of clear or transparent ultraviolet plastic which is commonly used by farmers for seeding plants. According to Yayat, the principle of this building, which is energy efficient and environmentally friendly or abbreviated as "Herang".

The position of this building is north-south and the top is not blocked by buildings or trees. This is to get the sun's heat as long as it shines from morning to evening. Thus, drying is effective if done in the dry season. "In the rainy season, farmers store their coffee first," Yayat said in an interview on tempo.co.

In addition, in this building there are long shelves of bamboo slats as high as three levels for drying coffee. The sun's heat in this building can store up to 60 degrees Celsius. If it exceeds that, the hot air will be expelled through the ventilator.

"The main problem with drying coffee cherries is the occurrence of a condition where the outside is dry but the inside is still wet," he said.

According to him, there is also a process of drying coffee cherries which has not succeeded in reducing the water content. This is because the water vapor that has been in and out of the coffee cherries, so the water content remains high.

Writer: Ali Hasan Asyari