Used coffee grounds can now be turned into fuel in 90 seconds

The same coffee that kicks your ass into gear every morning may soon be able to power the espresso machine that made it. The South Korean National Research Council of Science and Technology announced that a Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) research team has figured out how to turn used coffee grounds into biochar: a type of high-quality charcoal that can be used in power generation. The process takes just 90 seconds, start to finish.

…the KIGAM team developed Flame Plasma Pyrolysis (FPP): coffee waste put under immense pressure using plasma as hot as 1,652 degrees Fahrenheit. The method superheats moisture in the beans, triggering microscopic explosions that create tiny, porous structures and reducing total biomass by as much as 83.3 percent.

By the end of the process, the researchers were left with a substance "comparable to that of anthracite coal." The resulting biochar makes for great fuel and also has applications as a carbon material in industrial and environmental settings.

What's more, this new method for creating biochar is more environmentally friendly than other techniques for creating the fuel. Pair it with carbon capture technology when the stuff gets burned to produce power BOOM: Energy produced from garbage, just like in Back to the Future.

Previously:

• Recycled coffee grounds make cement stronger, say scientists
• I hope my neighborhood has reached peak coffee microroasting
• Coffee chain ditching cups in 2020, customers must "rent" or bring their own