Volatile metabolites of Philippine Arabica and Robusta coffee beans in both forms standard (not-eaten by the Asian palm civet) and civet coffee grown in different Philippine regions were identified using the hyphenated technique headspace-solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. A great number of volatile metabolites with a wide variety of functional groups were extracted and forty-seven prominent compounds were identified. The volatile metabolomics (volatilomics) fingerprint of Arabica coffees considerably differed from Robusta coffee and geographical origin slightly altered the fingerprint profile of coffee samples. Chemometric analysis such as principal component analysis (PCA) displayed a good classification between Arabica and Robusta coffee samples. Although Arabica coffee samples from different geographical origins were clustered separately from each other, the proximity of clusters between Arabica coffee samples which could be classified into one large group, indicated their close similarity of headspace metabolites. The distinction between Arabica samples and Robusta coffees was attributed through the PCA to several key volatile metabolites, in particular, higher quantities of acetic acid, furfural, 5-methylfurfural, 2-formylpyrrole and maltol and lower concentrations of 4-ethylguaiacol and phenol. These discriminating metabolites could represent useful quality markers to differentiate Arabica from Robusta coffee. Results revealed that the headspace metabolites in coffee provide significant information on its inherent aroma quality. Also, the findings suggested that the overall quality of Philippine coffee is variety and region-specific.

Utilization of agricultural wastes as high-value products is gaining importance not only because it reduces the volume of waste but also solves serious environmental problems. Crustacean shells and chicken eggshells are the notable wastes generated by agro-based industries. Bioconversion of these wastes for oil spill remediation is considered a very promising and challenging approach. Chitosan from shrimp shells and Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) from chicken eggshells are among the excellent candidates for the adsorption of oil spills due to their unique properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability and intrinsic porous structure. In this study, different proportions of Chitosan and CaCO3 (50:50; 40:60 and 30:70) were varied to determine the optimum ratio that will give the highest oil removal rate. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed the detailed morphology and uniform dispersion of the needle-shaped CaCO3 on the Chitosan matrix. XRD analysis demonstrated sharp peaks at 2θ = 9.40°, 29.7°, 37.3° which are the characteristics of crystalline Chitosan and calcite polymorph of CaCO3. Oil removal efficiency test revealed that 50:50 ChitosanCaCO3 composite is the optimum ratio that yield a highest oil removal efficiency of 99%. The oil adsorption capacity of 50:50 Chitosan-CaCO3 composite is 4.03g/g which is 4 times of its weight.

An increasing interest in geographical indication of origin has emerged to achieve legal protection of specialty coffee in international market.Civet coffee which is considered as the most expensive and best specialty coffee in the world, is one of the important indigenous export products of the Philippines.Thus, geographical origin differentiation of Philippine civet coffee and their control coffee beans (not eaten by civet) using electronic nose (E-nose) was performed.The E-nose instrument was based on six semiconductor metal oxide (SMO) sensor array.Results showed that the sensors exhibited different responses towards civet coffees and non-civet (control) coffees of different provenance.Principal component analysis (PCA) and Heirarchical cluster analysis (HCA) demonstrated a clearly separated civet coffees from their control beans.The cluster separation among civet coffee samples indicated that geographic origins dictate the aroma and flavor variations in coffee.This remarkable performance of E-nose provides proof that it is an excellent tool for authentication of the provenance of civet coffee and non-civet coffee samples.

Civet coffee is recognized as the world’s most expensive “gourmet” coffee due to its unique taste and aroma. In this work a concrete and promising approach to the headspace profile aroma attributes of Philippine civet coffee using electronic nose (EN) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with SPME techniques was investigated. Chemometric pattern technique was applied to improve the discrimination of civet coffee against its control coffee beans (not eaten by civet animal). EN analysis has shown that aroma characteristic is one of the most important quality indicators of civet coffee. The result was supported by classical chemical techniques like GC-MS analysis with SPME. The chromatographic fingerprints indicated that civet coffees varied with their control beans in terms of composition and concentration of individual volatile constituents (qualitative and quantitative differences). Chemometric discrimination of EN and GC-MS data demonstrated a clearly separated civet from their control coffees, indicating that cultivar and geographic origins decree the aroma and volatile variations in coffee.

Geographical origin traceability of food is a relevant issue for both producers’ business protection and customers’ rights safeguard. Differentiation of coffees on the basis of geographical origin is still a challenging issue, though possible by means of chemical techniques [1]. Between the most widely consumed beverage, coffee is a valuable one, with an aroma constituted by hundreds of volatiles [2]. Since the final global volatile composition is also determined by the cultivation climatic conditions, Electronic Noses (ENs) could be interesting candidates for distinguishing the geographical provenience by exploiting differences in chemical volatile profile. The present investigation is directed toward the characterization of green and roasted coffees samples according to their geographical origin.