Use of Spent Coffee Ground as an Alternative Fuel and Possible Soil Amendment

Abstract

Spent coffee ground is a massively produced coffee industry waste product whose reusage is beneficial. Proximate and ultimate and stochiometric analysis of torrefied spent coffee ground were performed and results were analyzed and compared with other research and materials. Spent coffee ground is a material with high content of carbon (above 50%) and therefore high calorific value (above 20 MJ·kg−1). Torrefaction improves the properties of the material, raising its calorific value up to 32 MJ·kg−1. Next, the phytotoxicity of the aqueous extract was tested using the cress test. The non-torrefied sample and the sample treated at 250 °C were the most toxic. The sample treated at 250 °C adversely affected the germination of the cress seeds due to residual caffeine, tannins and sulfur release. The sample treated at 350 °C performed best of all the tested samples. The sample treated at 350 °C can be applied to the soil as the germination index was higher than 50% and can be used as an alternative fuel with net calorific value comparable to fossil fuels.