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There's a new buzz powering public buses in London.
British startup bio-bean has partnered with Shell (RDSB) and Argent Energy to create a coffee-based biofuel that will be used in London's diesel buses.
I have to wonder how it smells. It sounds like it takes a lot of energy to gather and process the used coffee grounds even if the fuel works well is there really any savings at the end.
Well, that's a waste of really good composting material.
A biodiesel running on used cooking oil smells of french fries, so maybe biodiesel from grounds will smell like coffee. Could drive coffee consumption up? Since nothing triggers a coffee jones like the smell of fresh coffee.
And buy a first class ticket for your ride and they'll use Double Mocha Latte with Almond (organic, of course) Cream.
Gasoline was originally a waste product of the refining process. It was just burned off to get rid of it. It wasn't until Joe Carburetor invented that gizmo to atomize it that gasoline could be used as an automotive fuel, thus making Rockefeller even more Rockefeller.
Sure it's clever that they're doing this. Petroleum, after all, is made from plants. A handfull of coffee grounds does have an oily feeling, but how much oil can be extracted? I doubt enough to ever significantly fill our automotive needs when petroleum finally becomes depleted. These feeble attempts remind me of The Professor on Gilligan's Island. His clever inventions are OK for the needs of five people on a remote island, but can't be scaled up for 5 billion.
What's the energy cost of extracting the oil from coffee grounds?
What's the cost of getting negative returns from all those used coffee grounds -- enough to make about 400 million cups of coffee per day in the US -- by just dumping them all in a landfill?
What's the cost of getting negative returns from all those used coffee grounds -- enough to make about 400 million cups of coffee per day in the US -- by just dumping them all in a landfill?
Let's think this one thru together:
4 x 10^10^8 cups a coffee probably produces 4 x 10^7 cups of grounds, which produces, say, 4 x 10^5 cups of oil (probably a lot less).... a cup is 2 x 10^-3 barrel...so: 4 x 2 x 10^2 barrels of oil, ie- 800 barrels.
US automotive fuel consumption is 6 x 10^7 barrels/d.
We'd get 8 x 10^2 ./. 6 x 10^7 = 1.25 x 10^-5 (ie- 0.00125%) extra fuel- a drop in the ocean.
That still leaves unanswered the question- how much energy does it take to distill the oil from the coffee grounds? I'd bet you put more energy in than you get back out.
But we do agree the inventors deserve a cookie for their green concern.
That still leaves unanswered the question- how much energy does it take to distill the oil from the coffee grounds?
The proper question is to compare the long-term costs of dumping all those coffee grounds into long-term residence in a landfill versus the costs of first extracting and selling off oil so as to get a return of more than the nothing at all that results from Option-A.
I have a friend who manufactures biofuel at his home/farm. He uses food waste, garden clippings (5 acres in HI=LOTS of greenwaste), even collects spoiled veggies from the farmers market where he sells.
He uses the fuel to run a generator that powers his farm. Byproducts make good fertilizer, too.
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