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Can Coffee Give You Gas?

Source: Waste Management World

If scientists can get the technology just right, coffee will be giving us a lot of gas, and we’ll love it. That’s syngas we’re talking about, aka synthetic gas, and it will hopefully contribute to the process of turning coffee waste to renewable fuel, as is done with other wastes.

According to Waste Management World, the research is ongoing. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, maker of Keurig K-Cups, is the company whose wastes are being used in the gasification experimentation. Energy specialists want to turn the coffee roasting waste, which includes coffee residues, plastic packaging, paper, clothe/burlap, and plastic cups, into heat and power.

The same company used by NASA to turn space station waste into fuel is conducting the research. They’ve been successful in turning railroad tie chips, turkey litter, and forest residues into the syngas and then into electricity, so coffee waste should be appropriate for the same process. The roaster can then use the energy produced to run the equipment and turn out more waste, as well as excellent coffee. Besides electricity, the syngas can be used to create chemicals or biofuels.

It doesn’t get much more perfect than this. The coffee is roasted and enjoyed by coffee lovers, not only for the flavorful aspects but also for the energy it provides. Then the wastes from that roasting become a source of energy of a different kind. Talk about renewable energy – and it’s also being “fine-tuned to meet the highest possible environmental standards”.

We’ve previously learned that coffee wastes can fuel a gassifier that runs a car and as bioethanol in Colombia. Our favorite beverage is turning out to be not only healthy for our bodies, but healthy for the planet as well. Brew on in good health.

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REVIEWS & COMMENTS

  • MY OWN HYBRID

    Wakeknot | Thu, 01/12/2012 - 21:08

    if this works I may never need to buy gas again! think how green coffee could be if it came via a coffee waste powered delivery truck.

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  • ANY KIND OF RESEARCH ON

    hoonchul | Fri, 01/06/2012 - 12:35

    Any kind of research on alternative fuel is great idea in my book. Hopefully this is just the beginning.

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  • COFFEE POWERED CAR

    EricBNC | Thu, 01/05/2012 - 21:05


    I like the car that runs on coffee better - cut out the middle man and burn the spent grounds for fuel.

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  • I THINK ANYTIME YOU CAN

    GmanJenks | Thu, 01/05/2012 - 19:33

    I think anytime you can produce energy from waste that is a positive.

    I do wish that Green Mountain would spend more in finding ways to recycle the plastic of the K-cups.

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  • SOUND GREAT!

    Son Ton | Thu, 01/05/2012 - 19:10

    I think this sound great but a harder and more important problem we need to solve is paper and plastic cups. The coffee grounds are already biodegradable but the plastic cups are not. Plus, we probably need a lot of ground coffee for this to work.

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  • IT'S AN INTERESTING LINE OF

    Karrde | Thu, 01/05/2012 - 15:20

    It's an interesting line of research. Lots of labs vying for their product to be the next fuel.

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  • FUEL

    yeahyeah | Thu, 01/05/2012 - 14:45

    I'd be surprised if this were anything more than a marketing stunt. Turning waste into fuel is expensive in terms of money and energy.

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  • NICE TO SEE

    Chamie | Thu, 01/05/2012 - 14:25

    GMCR working at being responsible. I know they've talked for years about the K-cups in the waste stream being their biggest regret about doing single-serve coffee. As far as syngas goes, researchers out in the Southwest developed a process to extract usable fuel from spent coffee grounds a few years back -- unfortunately, the amount of grounds needed and the cost of the process makes it impractical right now.

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  • I GUESS THIS IS A CASE OF

    intrepid510 | Thu, 01/05/2012 - 13:43

    I guess this is a case of waste not want not. Too bad that kcups are not reusable unless you spend extra money to get the reusable kcup!

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  • INTERESTING

    jbviau | Thu, 01/05/2012 - 12:10

    What would be really sweet is if they could use spent k-cups in this process *and* figure out a way to collect them beforehand on a large scale for use.

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