Indian engineers find way to make biodiesel from coffee grounds
According to a report on Ars Technica, engineers at the University of Nevada may have found a way to produce biodiesel from used coffee grounds. These engineers - Narasimharao Kondamudi, Susanta Mohapatra and Mano Misra - all of whom are of Indian descent, have proposed that the solid waste from coffee brewing can yield oils that can be chemically converted into biodiesel.
According to Kondamudi, Mohapatra and Misra, biodiesel produced from coffee grounds may be more stable than those from other sources because coffee contains antioxidants, which would slow down degradation. And since the world produces more than seven billion kilograms of coffee per annum, there is always likely to be a constant and cheap supply of solid coffee waste.
In their laboratory tests, the researchers were able to extract oils from Starbuck's spent coffee grounds, and converted all of that oil to biodiesel, which remained stable for more than a month. And according to their estimates, based on the amount of coffee consumed worldwide, more than 1,200 million litres of biodiesel can be produced from spent grounds every year.
[Via: indiaautomotive]