Filed under: Technology, UK
For many of us, coffee runs our lives. Without the bitter, caffeinated brew, most of us wouldn't be able to get up in the morning or avoid fading in the afternoon. Now, new research from the University of Bath suggests we might want to get our cars as hooked on java as we are. Regardless of the variety of coffee used, the UK institution has found that coffee grounds are a great source to create biodiesel.
The idea of creating biodiesel from coffee grounds goes back several years, but it's still being researched and refined. The process works by soaking the grounds in an organic solvent and then putting them through a process called transesterification. The BBC show Bang Goes the Theory even converted a Volkswagen Scirocco to run on the gasified coffee years ago.
The Bath study tested 20 different coffee variations across region, brewing technique and even caffeinated versus decaffeinated to determine if the changes affected oil content. It turned out that it didn't. Fresh grounds contained between 11 and 15 percent oil by weight for the varieties it tested, and used ground contained between 7 and 13 percent.
Coffee ground-based biofuel could be revolutionary. Researchers who authored the study think that the conversion process is simple enough that it could be done by neighborhood coffee shops to create a personal supply of biodiesel. They predict a shop producing about 22 pounds (10kg) of grounds a day could make about half a gallon of biofuel (2 liters). While that's a relatively small amount, it's from a source that would otherwise usually just be thrown away. Scroll down to read the University's press release about the study, and click here to read its abstract.
Continue reading Forget 'Cars and Coffee,' the future is cars ON coffee
Forget 'Cars and Coffee,' the future is cars ON coffee originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 21 Jun 2014 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.autoblog.com/2014/06/21/coffee-powered-cars-bath-university-uk-study/
No comments:
Post a Comment