Contact: Bob Ratliff
For four Mississippi State University students, the best part of waking up may be the carbon dioxide that helps put coffee in your cup.
The senior chemical engineering majors are winners of a regional award for their proposal to use one of the Mississippi's natural resources to remove caffeine from coffee.
Sara M. Bailey of Lambert, Jason T. Christiansen of Gulfport, Trent A. Jones of Meridian, and Clint E. Strong of Madison recently captured first place at a Mid-South student research competition and meeting sponsored by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. This year's gathering took place at the University of Mississippi.
The winning MSU project details a method for tapping underground reserves of the naturally occurring, colorless, odorless CO2 to decaffeinate coffee beans. The method provides an alternative to traditional chemically based extraction processes.
About 10 percent of all coffee consumed in the United States is decaffeinated.
Working on a project required for graduation, the MSU students designed a chemical plant that actually could become a new Mississippi industry, said professor Rudy Rogers, their faculty adviser. Technical and economic feasibility aspects of the project were important considerations for the competition judges, he added.
"There are large underground deposits of carbon dioxide near Jackson," Rogers explained. "Their size, pressure and purity make them unique and suited for this process."
Rogers said the students concluded that the natural gas deposits could make their innovative process more economical than other methods of producing decaffeinated coffee. Not only that, the source would eliminate at least one consumer health concern.
"Other chemicals used in the decaffeination process leave traces of suspected carcinogens on the coffee beans," team member Sara Bailey said. "Carbon dioxide does not."
In their report to the AICE assembly, Bailey and her colleagues provided a detailed analysis of the process required to establish a Mississippi decaffeination facility. Transportation of coffee beans from South America to the Jackson area and the equipment needed to operate the facility were major parts of the study.
Bailey is a 1996 North Delta High School graduate and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick V. Bailey.
Christiansen is the son of Mr. and Mrs. John R. Christiansen and a 1996 Gulfport High School graduate.
Jones is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Jerry R. Jones and a 1995 graduate of Northeast High School.
Strong is a 1996 Madison-Ridgeland Academy graduate and the son of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Strong.
Bailey, Christiansen and Jones are scheduled to graduate with honors Saturday [May 13] in afternoon ceremonies at Humphrey Coliseum. Bailey and Christian are candidates for degrees, summa cum laude; Jones, magna cum laude.