Coffee has become a favorite source for creating eco-friendly fuel alternatives. Normally this comes from spent coffee grounds, which get transformed into biochar. But a new method has been developed that turns farm-level coffee waste into a multi-faceted energy solution while reducing carbon output in the process.
As reported by Energies Media, the novel technology is the work of Poás Bioenergy and is already being implemented on coffee farms in Costa Rica. It all starts with the raw material, coffee pulp as well as pineapple crowns; Costa Rica produces an estimated 8.9 million metric tons of these types of waste annually. These bi-products are often left to decompose in open fields or dumpsites, where they “decompose uncontrollably” and release methane gas into the atmosphere. Methane, the articles notes, “accelerates near-term climate impact,” trapping “approximately 28 to 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide.” Thus any uses for these waste products already has a positive environmental impact.
For their new process, Poás takes coffee pulp and pineapple crowns and first removes any excess water. They then are put into “an oxygen-limited gasification reactor” where the “organic matter is broken down with high heat without burning it.” This produces two beneficial products.
The first is syngas, short for synthetic gas, which provides the farms a clean thermal power alternative to fossil fuels. Using syngas instead of fossil fuels greatly reduces the farm’s carbon footprint. The other bi-product is carbon-rich biochar, which farms can amend their soil with to boost the health and available nutrients.
And there are additional benefits. The technology is deployed on-site at coffee farms, meaning there is no cost, financial or carbon, that would normally be associated with transporting them to a processing facility. They also provide a potential financial opportunity for the farmers, who are now able to participate in carbon markets.
Poás hopes to expand across farms in Latin America.
More energy, less carbon, using a freely available resource that could double as a secondary revenue stream. It’s a win-win-win-win. It’s a real winfall (is that what that word means?).
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
