BIODEGRADABLE CAPSULE
DESCRIPTION TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to single-use containers for food or substances for the preparation of food and beverages, and more particularly it refers to a biodegradable capsule.
BACKGROUND ART
Known capsules containing ground coffee, tea or other preparations or mixtures in grains or powder, for the preparation of beverages, are made of synthetic material, such as plastic materials such as PE or PET or aluminum, and the lid or cap is normally made of aluminum coupled with polythene.
After use, these known capsules cause a serious problem for disposal as they are made of plastic or metal having inside an organic material such as coffee, tea, various infusions, etc. so the materials should be separated to proceed to a correct disposal.
The enormous disadvantage of these capsules consists precisely in their incomplete biodegradability and therefore in the treatment as a so-called "undifferentiated" material. Capsules made of plastics for food use are recently known, for example made of PLA (poly-lactic acid) or of Mater Bi.
Also for these capsules there is the problem that they are not completely biodegradable, as they are made of plastic material.
Another disadvantage consists in that these capsules are fragile and often crack and/or lacerate when they are subjected to high temperatures and pressures inside the
various coffee machines.
The known capsules, for example of PLA or of Mater Bi, have the further disadvantage of having relatively high production costs and of using noble materials destined for human and animal food such as maize and various seeds, thus subtracting food resources to animal world.
The document US2014/335236 discloses a biodegradable capsule containing coffee, its derivatives, tea, or other preparations or mixtures, made of cellulose, in particular bamboo or bagasse.
Document WO2017/072808 discloses a capsule for soluble or infusion drinks made of compostable and/or biodegradable material. The main disadvantage of capsules produced according to the solutions described in the two previous documents is that the biodegradable material used has predominantly an elongated fibrous part without porosity or in any case with porosity not suitable for obtaining a correct filtration of coffee or tea powder. DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
The main object of the present invention is to propose a capsule made of totally biodegradable and/or compostable material. Further important object of the present invention is to propose a capsule designed to create optimal paths for the filtration of the liquid beverage so as to obtain a highly creamy drink with a longer persistence of the creamy part thus obtained.
Another object of the present invention is to propose a capsule with reduced production costs and with the use of non-food material, or of little use or even that remains unused.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The characteristics of the invention are shown below with particular reference to the attached drawings in which:
- Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a capsule object of the present invention;
- Figure 2 shows a partially sectional front view of the capsule of figure 1;
- Figure 3 shows a bottom view of the capsule of figure 2;
- Figure 4 shows a partially sectional front view of a variant of the capsule of Figure 1;
- Figure 5 shows a photograph of an inner portion of the capsule object of the present invention;
- Figure 6 illustrates an enlarged detail of the capsule of Figure 5.
BEST MODE TO CARRY OUT THE INVENTION
With reference to Figures 1-3, numeral 1 indicates a biodegradable capsule for the containment of coffee, its derivatives, barley, tea or other preparations or mixtures 2, in powder, scraps or grains, and used in a special machine for the preparation of drinks, beverages, or infusions, of coffee machine type.
The capsule 1 has a hollow body 3 having a bottom 6 connected to a side wall 7, the end of which, opposite to bottom 6, in the preferred embodiment, is folded to form a protruding or receding edge 8 which is not shown. On the edge 8 a lid 4 is fixed, both preferably of circular shape.
The capsule 1, then body 3 and lid 4, are made of wood-like material, preferably of the type pressed and dried palm leaves, of Areca type. The material is also derived from cellulose and may also derive from other parts of plants, in particular bark and/or trunk of palm tree.
The lid 4 is glued to hollow body 3 by means of a natural food glue 5, preferably based on corn and/or flour starch, for example cereals, and/or soybeans.
The materials used in making the capsule 1 are natural, easily available, in large quantities and therefore extremely low cost. In the preferred embodiment, the side wall 7 is cylindrical from the cylindrical edge 8 to about half of its height and then tapers to a truncated cone up to the connection with the cylindrical bottom 6 which is smaller in size than the edge 8.
Obviously, capsules, having a hollow body 3 of any suitable conformation compatible with the various coffee machines, fall inside the object of the invention.
The assembly of capsule 1 provides the insertion of coffee or tea or various scraps 2 into the hollow body 3 up to a predetermined level, then the spreading of glue 5 onto the edge 8 and/or onto the inner surface near the edge of lid 4 and the positioning of the latter on the edge 8 so as to make the welding thereof.
Optional is the packaging phase of capsule 1 inside a bag of biodegradable material, for example of PLA, and in a modified atmosphere, for example nitrogen. The subsequent use of capsule 1 provides its insertion, after removal of the envelope if present, into the appropriate seat of coffee machine in which it is subjected to the passage of water at high temperature under pressure in order to deliver the relative beverage. After use, the capsule 1 is fully recyclable being made of 100% organic material so that it can be disposed together with the common organic waste without the need to make any separation between the capsule 1 or its hollow body elements 3 and/or lid 4, and the contents 2. A variant of the capsule 1 provides that the lid 4 is fixed on the edge 8 of the hollow body 3 by gluing for pressure and permanent deformation, also by means of mutual penetration, of the contact surfaces of lid 4 with edge 8.
A further variant of the capsule 1, not shown, provides that the lid 4 and/or the edge 8 have joinable coupling means which are complementarily engaged so as to achieve a mutual solid blocking. These coupling means are in the form of radial or circumferential grooves on the edge 8 and of corresponding radial or circumferential reliefs near the edge of the cover 4, or vice versa.
Another variant, shown in Figure 4, provides that the lid 4 is sewn to the edge 8 by means of a thread 9 of natural compostable material, for example of cellulose or a cotton or hemp thread or equivalent material.
With particular reference to Figures 5-6, the photographs illustrate that the dehydrated palm leaf used to form the capsule 1 has an identifiable porosity with a plurality of pores 10, interspersed with a plurality of grooves 11 which are deep some tenths of a millimeter. Only some of the plurality of pores 10 and of grooves 11 are identified in Figures 5-6.
During the infusion process, mainly the lid 4 of the capsule 1 is hit by a flow of boiling water under pressure which enters into capsule 1 in contact with coffee or tea powder or various mixtures powder or scraps, and the water-powder emulsion so generated is pushed under pressure through pores 10 and grooves 11 and is poured out from the capsule 1 as a drink extremely rich in cream of high persistence.
By virtue of the particular porosity of the palm leaf, the pores 10 and the grooves 11 provide a set or series of infusion and/or filtration paths, each obtained from a combination "pore-pore" and/or "pore-groove" and/or "groove-groove", for the water-powder emulsion which, under pressure inside infusion process, is excellent for making the creaminess of the final drink, i.e. coffee, barley, tea and infusion. It has been tested that the cream obtained is abundant, very compact, with a persistent duration, even lasts longer than ten minutes, therefore with a duration of up to five times longer than the persistence of the cream produced with the known
capsules.
The main advantage of the present invention is that of providing a capsule of totally biodegradable and/or compo stable material.
Further advantage is to provide a capsule fit to supply optimal paths for the drink filtration so obtaining a highly creamy drink with a longer persistence of the creamy part thereof.
Another advantage is to provide a capsule with reduced production costs, with material of little use, with low industrial interest or which would remain unused.