Coffee Grounds Identified As Biodiesel Source

December 12, 2008 12:16 p.m. EST

Las Vegas, NV (AHN) - A new source for biodiesel has been identified by researchers in Nevada --wasted coffee grounds.

The scientists said coffee grounds contain about 11 to 20-percent oil by weight, the same amount as traditional feedstocks like rapeseed, palm and soybean oil.

Growers produce more than 16 billion pounds of coffee around the world annually. The used or "spent" grounds remaining from production of espresso, cappuccino, and regular coffee, often wind up in the trash or find use as soil conditioner, according to a press release from Science Daily.

Scientist Mano Misra, Susanta Mohapatra and Narasimharao Kondamudi say the coffee grounds could add another 340 million gallons of biodiesel to the world's supply.

The coffee-based biodiesel even turned out to be more stable than other biodiesel blends because of coffee's high levels of antioxidants, these researchers said.