Scientists create biofuel using ground coffee beans
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Scientists claim that a 'green' biofuel made from waste coffee grounds (pictured) could soon power vehicles on Britain's roads
You may currently grab a coffee while filling up your car at a petrol station, but in the future you could be refuelling your vehicle with the aromatic brown liquid too.
Scientists claim that a 'green' biofuel made from waste coffee grounds could power vehicles on our roads.
Around 22lbs (10kg) of leftover grounds, generated by the average coffee shop, produces around two litres of the biofuel.
The scientists believe that if this were scaled up nationally, popular high street coffee shops such as Starbucks, Café Nero and Costa Coffee could soon be rivalling oil giants like Shell, BP and Esso.
Researchers at the University of Bath said waste coffee grounds could be a sustainable fuel source for powering vehicles.
They have made biofuel from ground coffee produced in 20 different geographic regions, including caffeinated and decaffeinated forms.
The study, published in the journal Energy Fuels, found that different varieties of coffee - including Robusta and Arabica - have reasonably uniform composition and physical properties for use as a fuel. That means all coffee waste could be a viable way of producing biodiesel.
The scientists claim that oil can be extracted from coffee grounds by soaking them in an organic solvent before using a special process to transform them into biodiesel.
Chris Chuck, Whorrod research fellow at the university, said the research highlights the potential for waste coffee to work its way onto forecourts to be a 'truly sustainable' biofuel.
Researchers at the University of Bath said that waste coffee grounds could be a sustainable fuel source for powering vehicles. They have made biofuel from ground coffee produced in 20 different geographic regions, including caffeinated and decaffeinated forms. A car being filled with standard petrol is pictured
THE BENEFITS OF BIODIESEL
Biodiesel is an alternative fuel to conventional or 'fossil' diesel.
It is a product from vegetable oil, animal oil and fats and waste cooking oil.
The process used to convert these oils to biodiesel is called transesterification - a reaction between the oil and alcohol.
Biodiesel is currently made from waste vegetable oil from restaurants and chip shops, for example.
When using agricultural oil, the process can be expensive, but if the oil is sourced for free it can rival other, traditional fuel choices.
Scientists are constantly looking for alternative fuels that are cheaper and more sustainable than conventional fuel.
He believes that coffee biodiesel could be produced on a small scale by coffee shop chains to fuel vehicles used for deliveries.
Those same delivery vehicles could then be used to collect waste coffee grounds and take them to a central biodiesel production facility to be processed.
Companies such as London-based bio-bean already produce biodiesel and biomass pellets from waste coffee grounds.
'Around eight million tonnes of coffee are produced globally each year and ground waste coffee contains up to 20per cent oil per unit weight,' Dr Chuck said.
'This oil also has similar properties to current feedstocks used to make biofuels. But, while those are cultivated specifically to produce fuel, spent coffee grounds are waste.'
The University of Bath study found that all waste coffee grounds – regardless of source – gave a relatively consistent level of performance, which is not the case for current crop-based biodiesel.
Rhodri Jenkins, a PhD student in sustainable chemical technologies and first author of the study, said: 'We estimate that a small coffee shop would produce around 22lbs (10kg) of coffee waste per day, which could be used to produce around two litres of biofuel.
'There is also a large amount of waste produced by the coffee bean roasting industry, with defective beans being thrown away. If scaled up, we think coffee biodiesel has great potential as a sustainable fuel source.'
Scientists believe that if this were scaled up nationally, popular high street coffee shops such as Starbucks, (pictured) Café Nero and Costa Coffee could soon be rivalling oil giants like Shell, BP and Esso
AA president Edmund King said: 'It lends a whole new meaning to a fill-up. Should we be asking for an Ameri-car-no or a Car-puccino? Perhaps our motorways will become Espresso-ways – with special filter lanes. And instead of petrol and diesel fumes would our roads be smelling of roasted Columbian or Kenyan blends?'
'We normally advocate drivers having two cups of coffee themselves to stay alert. This is a novel twist. Though if it takes off I doubt filling stations will be offering motorists a bottomless cup.'
REAL LIFE CAR-PUCCINO: ENGINEERS BUILD A COFFEE-FUELLED VEHICLE
Four years ago a prototype car that runs on coffee – dubbed the Car-puccino – was created using a converted 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco bought for £400 and chosen for its resemblance to the time-travelling DeLorean in the movie Back To The Future. The team used waste coffee grounds, collected from a branch of Costa Coffee to power their vehicle.
The car was driven the 210 miles between Manchester and London powered only by roasted coffee granules.
It was built by a team from the BBC1 science programme 'Bang Goes The Theory' and went on display at the Big Bang science fair in Manchester to show how fuels other than conventional petrol and diesel can power vehicles.
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But at between 25 and 50 times the cost of running a car on petrol, the inventors admitted it wouldn't please motor industry bean-counters.
The team calculated that their Carpuccino averaged three miles per kilo of ground coffee - the equivalent of about 56 espressos per mile.
Their journey used about 154lbs (70kg) of ground coffee equivalent to around 11,760 espressos, and the team had to take 'coffee breaks' roughly every 30 to 45 miles to pour in more granules.
They also had to stop about every 60 miles (97kg) to clean out the 'coffee filters' to rid them of the tar generated by the process.
Nick Watson, producer of 'Bang Goes The Theory', said at the time: 'The coffee needs to be very dry and in pellets to allow the air to move through the pile of coffee as it burns. The brand doesn't matter.'
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