May 17th, 2009 Coffee has Grown into Something Bigger than Your Morning Routine
Coffee fuels you every morning, could it fuel your car as well?
Most of us drink coffee daily. It wakes us up and helps us start our day. Could it help us start our car too?
According to theAmerican Chemical Society used coffee grounds can be used as sources of bio fuel. The grounds contain a huge amount of oil, and can be used further after the oil has been extracted. The dried grounds can become fuel pellets for stoves, be converted to ethanol or be used as compost, therefore eliminating all waste. The antioxidants in coffee help to prevent the coffee-based bio fuels from going bad, giving the grounds a longer shelf-life than most bio fuels.
Growers produce nearly 16 billion pounds of coffee each year, providing ample supply of the potential bio fuel. As of now, most of this ends up in the trash or being used as a soil conditioner. Bio fuels have become increasingly popular. The idea is that making fuel from plants, which absorb carbon dioxide as they grow, will produce fewer emissions than burning fossil fuels. Production of bio fuel from used coffee grounds would be best suited to large scale production rather than individual production. Researchers have estimated it to cost about $1 per gallon to make in a medium-sized installation. If companies such as Starbucks, Peet’s, and other coffee shops were to donate the grounds from the mass amounts of coffee they produce each year, there’s no telling how much fuel could be obtained.
As this is a relatively new idea, there are no general companies or institutions to donate these used grounds to for fuel. Your best bet for now is to use these grounds as compost until coffee grounds can more readily be used for bio fuel.
