Coffee: now it’s an energy source. Thanks to British architecture student Arthur Kay and his company Bio-Bean, used coffee grounds can now be turned into a renewable fuel supply for any wood-burning stove and is said to come at half the cost of wood or charcoal.
The Telegraph reports that Bio-Bean has contracts to collect used coffee grounds from cafes, coffee factories, and airports, all of whom are saving a pretty penny in disposal fees (£154 per ton, around $225). Before being turned into biofuel, the coffee refuse is stripped of the oils in order to keep the bricks from smelling like coffee when burned. “Some people think this is a shame but others don’t want their home to smell like Starbucks,” Kay states.
And the fuel is highly efficient. The Telegraph notes:
The calorie content of fuel is determined by how densely the energy is packed into the product. Bio-bean’s pellets are more calorific than wood and only slightly less caloric than coal.
Kay is already planning for international growth of Bio-Bean, telling The Telegraph that he is looking to open a facility is Spain and possibly Germany, and that the technology allows for them to expand into any coffee-drinking country. So drink more coffee, people of the world. You’re helping create biofuel.
Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network.
