May 2, 2017: María Lorena Gutiérrez, Ambassador of Colombia in Germany, together with Juan Esteban Orduz, President of Fedecafé's North American subsidiary, visited the institute today. The focus of interest was on research approaches aiming at sustainable coffee production.

Besides the presentation of ATB research and infrastructure, the visit addressed potential research cooperation. For years, ATB has been closely cooperating with Colombia's coffee producers, which are organized in Fedecafé. Fedecafé (Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia) established in 1927 is a non-commercial association of cuurently more than 500,000 Colombian coffee producers. The Colombian coffee production is committed to the goals of sustainability and is in the process of setting the pace for new standards at national level. Juan Esteban Orduz, President of the North American subsidiary of Fedecafé, informed about ongoing activities in this area.

In the pilot plant 'Lactic acid', Dr. Joachim Venus presented previous results on the use of residues from the coffee production. The coffee pulp is suitable for the biotechnological production of biobased chemicals such as lactic acid or succinic acid.

The Colombian Maria Alejandra Munoz Ricaurte has been researching biogas for a long time at the ATB. She presented current research on the energetic use of biomass.

In the 'freshness lab', Dr. Oliver Schlüter presented ongoing work from the research program 'Quality and safety of food and feed'.

The delegation visited ATB on invitation by the Leibniz Research Alliance 'Sustainable Food Production & Healthy Nutrition'.