OK, so this article isn't so much about future tech as the technology is already here, however it deserves a write up as in the future it could expand worldwide to provide green energy in your city.
Within Greater London here in the UK, we love our coffee, so much so the city is one of the highest consumers of Coffee in Europe. The waste that is left over from the ground up/used coffee beans measures over 200'000 tones per year. This wast usually ends up in land fills, never to be seen again.
A company called Bio Bean has made a great use of the huge amounts of waste made by the 3000 + London Coffee shops, and that number grows by 200 each year in London alone, by converting this waste into fuel.
The company was founded in 2013. since then, they are now the main producer of bio fuel in the London area. Bio diesel is very clean, easy and cheep to make, produces much less emissions than regular diesel and in turn is better for the environment.
At present, Bio Bean is working with London waste contractors who collect the waste coffee for processing. The bio diesel is then sold back to London traffic authority to be used to power public transport, such as there Bio Buses that run on 100% Bio Diesel.
Recently, the company has started to collect waste from Manchester too to increase the production of their bio fuel.
The process used is quite simple. Once the used coffee is collected, it is sent to a processing plant. In here they dry the coffee and remove all the water, and then simply compress it in a screw press to remove all the oil. It takes about 20-30kg of coffee to produce 1 litre of oil.
This oil is then cleaned and processed with additives to make it suitable as a bio diesel fuel.
What does this mean for the future?
Well if the company continues to expand and if other companies worldwide start to produce Bio fuel in the same manner, diesel powered cars, buses, trains boats, ships, even military vehicles can be green, it will reduce the amount of emission's which makes it better for the environment as a whole, Oil production for petrol engines will increase as oil companies wont have to produce as much diesel and lastly, when the oil from drilling does run out, there is a better alternative.
So drink up and enjoy that morning espresso or black coffee and be happy to know that you will be helping create waste that makes bio fuel.
Thanks for reading.
Stu @TechMojo
