Gulzhan Khamitova is the second researcher from the University of Camerino to receive a doctorate in chemistry and pharmaceutical sciences as part of the activities promoted by the“Research and Innovation Coffee Hub” (RICH), an international coffee research platform resulting from the collaboration between Simonelli Group and the University of Camerino. During the three years of his doctorate, he conducted advanced analytical and experimental research work on the optimization of the espresso coffee extraction process, applied in particular to a specific type of coffee machines for use in bar and restaurant services.
Already a graduate with honors in chemistry from Kazakhstan’s Al-farabi KazNU National University, and in Chemical Engineering with Design from the University of Manchester (UK), prior to her three-year doctoral program at Camerino, Gulzhan Khamitova worked for five years in the instrumental chemistry laboratory at Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Following her passion and curiosity, she thus came to Italy to study the preparation of espresso coffee, a complex mechanism characterized by various chemical and physical phenomena that are very difficult to control and optimize even in the most advanced coffee machines. On the other hand, the optimization of the coffee extraction process represents an interesting field of testing not only for scientists, but also for many of the operators involved in various ways in the world of coffee, not excluding the final consumer.
This is a field of research to which Simonelli Group has been committed for many years, and since 2016 it has undergone further development with the Marche company’s decision to establish a special research center with the University of Camerino.
The collaboration between Simonelli Group technicians with faculty from the University of Camerte and the involvement of researchers and doctoral students, has led to remarkable results, and among these of particular note was the study Gulzhan Khamitova ‘s research focused on because it offers an important contribution to the understanding of how different variables (temperature, water pressure and particle size of ground coffee) can influence the beverage obtained in the cup at the end of the Italian espresso extraction process. The research made it possible to define the best combinations among the different variables and parameters analyzed, with the ultimate goal of transferring these results to the industrial field, applying them in the production process of coffee machines.
The experimental part of the research was conducted at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Aveiro (Portugal), where the doctoral student had the opportunity to spend six months of research thanks to a collaboration and interchange agreement between the Universities of Aveiro and Camerino.
