Hydrothermal Carbonization of Spent Coffee Grounds for Producing Solid Fuel

Yulin Hu, Rhea Gallant, Shakirudeen Salaudeen, Aitazaz A. Farooque and Sophia He
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Yulin Hu: Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE C1A 4P3, Canada
Rhea Gallant: Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE C1A 4P3, Canada
Shakirudeen Salaudeen: Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE C1A 4P3, Canada
Aitazaz A. Farooque: Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE C1A 4P3, Canada
Sophia He: Department of Engineering, Dalhousie University, Truro, NS B2N 5E3, Canada

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 14, 1-15

Abstract: Spent coffee grounds (SCG) are industrial biowaste resulting from the coffee-brewing process, and they are often underutilized and end up in landfills, thereby leading to the emission of toxic gases and environmental damage. Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is an attractive approach to valorize wet biomass such as SCG to valuable bioproducts (i.e., hydrochar). Thus, in this work, the HTC of SCG was carried out in a 500 L stainless steel vessel at 150, 170, 190, 210, and 230 °C for 30 min, 60 min, 90 min, and 120 min and a feedstock to water weight ratio of 1:5, 1:10, and 1:15, and the use of the resulting hydrochar as a solid fuel was evaluated. The results showed that a high energy recovery (83.93%) and HHV (23.54 MJ/kg) of hydrochar was obtained at moderate conditions (150 °C, 30 min, and feedstock to water weight ratio of 1:5) when compared with conventional approaches such as torrefaction. Following this, the surface morphology, functionality, and combustion behavior of this hydrochar were characterized by SEM, FTIR, and TGA, respectively. In short, it can be concluded that HTC is an effective approach for producing solid fuel from SCG and the resulting hydrochar has the potential to be applied either in domestic heating or large-scale co-firing plants.

Keywords: spent coffee grounds (SCG); hydrothermal carbonization (HTC); hydrochar; biofuel; solid fuel; valorization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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