Coffee Turns into Green Energy

Coffee always gives us a great boost in the morning, but it seems that experts have succeeded in expanding its list of benefits. Researchers from University of North Dakota have thought about using what's left in our coffee mugs to come up with a viable, unlimited source of green energy.

It seems that everything will be used in this process: from coffee residues to plastic packaging waste, Keuring plastic cups we use only once and even textiles, according to Earth911.

Apart from being a useful, unconventional recycling strategy, it also counts as a green method of fighting the ever-growing energy crisis.

Scientists from the University's Energy & Environmental Research Center will work in partnership with bioenergy firm Wynntryst LLC from Vermont and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters to come up with an innovative gasification power system, exploiting these residues by turning them into synthetic gas, also called syngas.

The new product obtained from the unusual mixture of waste will follow two different paths.

Syngas could be used to supply the market with a new generation of high-value biofuels or it will be processed in internal combustion engines to provide heat and electricity in a cost-effective, eco-friendly manner, according to experts from EERC.

Apart from developing and implementing a new kind of waste-to-energy cycle, partners involved in this green project want to reduce the amount of trash ending up in landfills every year by 2%.

Apparently, coffee can be quite green, taking into consideration the environmental benefits of the gasification power system, created as an extension of previous tests conducted by NASA and EERC, using waste from a space station to offer clean green energy and heat.

EERC officials seem to have a lot of confidence in their new initiative, since the system has already succeeded in delivering eco-friendly power after processing turkey litter, forest residues and several other waste materials.

This new strategy might prove that, although projects involving alternative sources of power are in their infancy, they could count as greener alternatives to dirty, traditional fuels.