Waste coffee grounds can be used to produce biodiesel.

The latest issue of the ACS journal Energy and fuel published the latest research by the Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technology of the University of Bath in the UK, showing that waste coffee grounds can be used to produce biodiesel and have the potential to become a sustainable source of second-generation biofuels.

Studies have shown that biodiesel can be extracted by soaking coffee grounds in organic solvents through a process of ester group transfer. The researchers compared coffee powder ingredients from 20 different regions and found that there was little difference in the physical properties of biofuels produced by coffee from different sources.

It is reported that the global annual production of coffee is about 8 million tons, and the oil content of abandoned coffee is as high as 20%. The researchers believe that biodiesel produced by coffee will only become a small part of the energy mix. More realistically, these small-scale biodiesel can provide fuel for vehicles transported by chain stores.

Based on the fact that small cafes produce about 10 kilograms of waste coffee every day, these coffee can produce about 2 liters of biofuels. There is also a lot of waste in the coffee bean roasting industry, as well as some discarded defective beans. If expanded, coffee biodiesel will have great potential to become a sustainable source of fuel.

According to industry insiders, biomass energy, including biodiesel, is indeed a sunrise industry, but its development is very slow, and the main bottleneck is the shortage of raw materials. Although there is no problem of competing with people for food to produce diesel oil from waste coffee grounds, whether it can really become a sustainable source of second-generation biofuels needs to be considered in terms of scale and economy.