PatIntNews

According to a research in Navada, waste coffee grounds have been reported to provide a cheap, abundant, and eco- friendly source for the production of biodiesel.

A study by Mano Misra, Susanta Mohapatra, and Narasimharao Kondamudi reports that high cost and low quality feedstock are the major barrier to wider use of biodiesel as a fuel.

Spent coffee grounds contain about 11 to 20 percent of oil by weight which is about as much as contained in the traditional biodiesel feedstocks. The amount of coffee produced around the world is more than 16 billion pounds per year. The remaining used or "spent" grounds from the production of espresso, cappuccino and java often wind up in trash or are used as soil conditioner. However it has been estimated by scientists that the spent coffee grounds can potentially address the world's fuel demand by adding another 340 million gallons. Moreover the solids left over from the conversion can be converted to ethanol or used as compost. The scientists estimate that the process could make a profit of more than $8 million a year in the U.S. alone. They are therefore, planning to develop a small pilot plant to produce and test the experimental fuel within the next six to eight months.

Scientists have verified this by separating the oil from spent coffee grounds collected from a multinational coffeehouse chain and converting 100 percent of the separated oil into biodiesel by using an inexpensive process. According to the researchers, the major advantage of this coffee based biodiesel fuel over traditional biodiesel is that it is more stable due to high antioxidant content in coffee.

The market for Biodiesel is growing and estimates suggest that annual global production of biodiesel in 2010 will be around 3 billion gallon. The fuel can be produced from variety of feedstock like soybean oil, palm oil, peanut oil, other vegetable oils, animal fat and even cooking oil recycled from restaurant. Biodiesel can either be added to regular diesel fuel or it can be a stand-alone fuel, used by itself as an alternative fuel for diesel engines.