Mr Pipples Posted January 9, 2009 Report Share Posted January 9, 2009 http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/09012009/36/coffe...e-diesel-0.html Many people find that coffee is a good source of fuel in the morning, but now that could literally become the case - as bio-diesel sourced from coffee beans could soon run our cars. And, some will be most pleased to note, the fuel maintains that pleasant coffee aroma. Researchers at the University of Nevada have found that ground coffee is 10-15 percent oil, which is easily extractable and turned into bio-diesel. What's more, it could be offered for as little as 60p per US gallon - that's around 16p per litre! Coffee is in abundant enough supply to provide hundreds of millions of gallons of fuel every year, and the oil can be extracted from leftover grounds - so we shouldn't find ourselves missing out on our morning coffee for the sake of fuel. And the find was stumbled across by accident, according to chief researcher Mano Misra, who said: "I had left my coffee out one night, and the next morning, I noticed that there was a kind of oil around the edge of the cup." Misra then collected used ground coffee from Starbucks and found extracting the oil was easy. There are over 7.2 million tonnes of coffee produced worldwide each year from which to extract fuel and it's also more stable than traditional bio-fuel because of coffee's high antioxidant content. A larger scale pilot scheme is now underway to see how viable coffee could be as a genuine fuel source. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drbubb Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 The acid in the coffee will burn up the engine quickly, I reckon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgeingBabyBoomer Posted January 11, 2009 Report Share Posted January 11, 2009 The acid in the coffee will burn up the engine quickly, I reckon Maybe they can use decaf? ABB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aquamarinesea Posted June 19, 2009 Report Share Posted June 19, 2009 That's interesting. I'm wondering if the smoke it'll puff out smells coffee... hmm... Nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romans holiday Posted June 19, 2009 Report Share Posted June 19, 2009 Maybe they can use decaf? ABB Nah, they will need the real thing like me. I roast and percolate my own coffee and have noticed when cleaning out the previous days grinds that they are quite oily. I like the idea of running a portable "coffee lounge" one day. Maybe I can use the grinds to get to and fro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purechatterbox Posted March 16, 2010 Report Share Posted March 16, 2010 The acid in the coffee will burn up the engine quickly, I reckon This would be my main concern, too... Coffee is surprisingly acidic! Good thing coffee is great for composting. (Organic coffee, anyway!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littledavesab Posted March 17, 2010 Report Share Posted March 17, 2010 This would be my main concern, too... Coffee is surprisingly acidic! Good thing coffee is great for composting. (Organic coffee, anyway!) Thanks for the bump & welcome to GEI A google search on the subject brings up a decent level of results - which reassures me that you would NOT have to use Starbucks coffee - as Starbucks coffee would cost way more than 60p per litre http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=na...+coffee+grounds this is good http://www.chemistryland.com/Biodiesel/Cof...lExtraction.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purechatterbox Posted March 17, 2010 Report Share Posted March 17, 2010 Thanks for the bump & welcome to GEI A google search on the subject brings up a decent level of results - which reassures me that you would NOT have to use Starbucks coffee - as Starbucks coffee would cost way more than 60p per litre http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=na...+coffee+grounds this is good http://www.chemistryland.com/Biodiesel/Cof...lExtraction.htm I can envision people filling up with Starbucks coffee because they're just used to buying it! Great links, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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