Sohail Mirza
President
Somicon

Sohail received his Masters in Chemical Engineering in 1983. He has more than 30 years of working experience in the in the petro-chemical & fine chemical industries. Amongst others his career included working for companies like Exxon Corporation, Ciba-Geigy and Novartis. Since 1996, Sohail is also an entrepreneur. He catalyzed the launching many businesses in Europe, USA and the Middle East. His core technical competences include Membrane Based Separation Systems (design, construction and management), Water and Water Reuse and Processes Engineering in the Fine Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Food Industries. He has designed more than 100 industrial processes in various segments all across the globe. He is the Managing Director of Switzerland based Somicon AG. He is married and lives in Arlesheim, Switzerland.


Use of Membranes for the Concentration of Aqueous Food Extracts: Case Study with Coffee Products

Membrane separation processes are well established in the food processing industry. By and large most applications have focused on their use to concentrate, clarify and diafilter one or many ingredients.

A holistic yet quantified view of the feed and process can help achieve significantly improved economies and enable innovations in product’s final form. Coffee is a complex product whose constituents vary significantly on types, regions & season. The presentation highlights methodologies and insights gained from the fine chemical industry that were subsequently used to optimize the coffee extract concentration. The relavance of pre-treatment, choice of membranes and membrane cleaning is discussed in connection with processing cost, product design and global optimization. These strategies can be used for several other processes in the food industry to realize economically attractive and versatile processes.