Coffee Could Power Your Car, As Well As Wake You Up in the Morning
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY 
on 12.11.08
photo: David Joyce
You may know that coffee is the world’s second most traded commodity—a stat undoubtedly given a boost by the great caffeinated blogging legion—but, according to researchers in Nevada coffee could be doubly valuable: For use as biofuel. Well, the waste coffee grounds actually. Here’s the skinny on coffee ground biodiesel:
Coffee Grounds Have Similar Oil Content to Other Feedstocks
Researchers Mano Misra, Susanta Mohapatra and Narasimharao Kondamundi figured that since coffee grounds contain about as much oil by weight, 11-20%, as more traditional biodiesel feedstocks such as rapeseed, soybeans, or palm oil.
And given that more than 16 million pounds of coffee is produced each year, if the waste grounds could be given a second life as biodiesel feedstock, that could be a lot of biofuel: 340 million gallons to be exact. That’s the equivalent of roughly 8 million barrels of oil, for those rushing to their calculators.
Yes, Coffee Biodiesel Smells Like Coffee
In testing the viability of this, the scientists collected coffee grounds from “a multinational coffeehouse chain” and produced biodiesel from the separated oil. The resulting fuel, yes, smelled like coffee, and “had a major advantage in being more stable that traditional biodiesel due to coffee’s high antioxidant content”. (Physorg)
Estimating that coffee ground biodiesel could turn a profit of $8 million a year in the US, the next step is to build a pilot plant and test the fuel.
via: Physorg
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Looks good, the perfect fuel to put in the Suzuki Cappucino!
ahhh...there goes my free bag of used coffee grounds for my garden from Starbucks. Just kidding...I will just have to source mine from my neighbors and save myself the individual bags the used Starbuck grounds come in!
How can people still claim fossil fuel is the only option for producing enough energy to meet the world's demands? LIES!
Biofuels and photovoltaics easily could. It would just require people to actually try. It's so much easier just to sit on our butts and naysay. Which in turn contributes to enironmental harm and supporting countries we should not be.
This looks like a pretty classic case of Not Invented Here syndrome.
Google "Brazil", "biodiesel", and "coffee": this story is years old. Just not in the U.S.
"How can people still claim fossil fuel is the only option for producing enough energy to meet the world's demands? LIES!"
I don't want to sit on my butt and naysay, but: Probably because the proposed 340 million gallons from coffe grounds would fuel a little more than a million cars with an average yearly consumption of 300 gallons. Every stream makes a river, but we don't have enough land and waste crops for the river of fuel that 600 million cars or so is consuming. We should make biodiesel from coffe grounds, and drive less. A lot less.
Not to be skeptical, but... the world consumes 85 million barrels of oil a day. Every little biofuel helps, but first we have to reduce oil demand to make the contribution of biofuels meaningful. If peak oil theorists are right, that will happen soon whether we like it or not.
"Biofuels and photovoltaics easily could. It would just require people to actually try. It's so much easier just to sit on our butts and naysa"
True, but how much would photovoltaics cost to meet the average commute, not to mention the added cost of converting to an EV?
Much more than most people can afford and more than most are probably willing to pay. Even $4 gas is cheap relative to unsubsidized PV's
"Coffee Could Power Your Car"?
Hello?!
Have you heard of "Google"? Type in "Brazil", "biodiesel", and "coffee"... voila! Brazil has been converting coffee into biodiesel for years now.
Somebody is suffering from Not Invented Here syndrome...
The Office Coffee providers would definitely have a key role in the collection of the used coffee grounds...
Would be nice if you could sell the coffee beans and then charge again to pick up the grounds...