Enhancing the fuel properties of beverage wastes as non-edible feedstock for biofuel production

A few industries, such as the beverage industry, have experienced some growth in sales during the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally, beverage companies alone generate over 200 million tonnes of biomass annually, which largely ends up as animal feed or in landfills. With the UK government’s commitment to reduce its carbon footprint by at least 68% in 2030, many companies, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), are exploring options to reduce carbon emissions and develop roadmaps to become carbon neutral. It has thus become imperative for beverage companies to find value in or repurpose their waste. This paper unlocks the potential for improving the fuel properties of beverage waste through a blending process and explores the determination of optimal fractions for the blends via characterization. With an initial moisture content of 82 and 58 wt.% brewery spent grain (BSG) and spent coffee grounds (SCG), respectively, the pre-treatment process reduced moisture content by approximately 10–15 wt.%. The study concludes that biomass blending improved the fuel properties of the biomass, providing a competitive comparison with coal for energy applications

Energy recovery from brewery spent grains and spent coffee grounds: a circular economy approach to waste valorization

Currently, the circular economy approach is gaining importance, and it is already a concern to different industrial sectors, intending to eliminate the waste produced while trying to create new value chains. In addition to this disruptive process, the net-zero carbon emissions objective can be fulfilled. In this way, the energy recovery of residual biomass forms is assumed to be a high potential alternative for pursuing this objective. The present work deals with the recovery of brewery spent grains (BSG) and spent coffee grounds (SCG) through direct combustion. Samples were collected and characterized to analyze the viability of BSG and SCG combustion recovery options. From the results, it can be concluded that, although this possibility can be viable under certain circumstances, some constraints due to the composition of these materials can jeopardize this recovery option. Further research concerning the life cycle assessment of these materials and eventual environmental impacts caused by such a solution is still missing and must be conducted. It is also essential to proceed with further chemical characterization of these wastes concerning corrosion-related phenomena and to justify diverting both BSG and SCG from urban solid waste streams. After this preliminary approach, the research can also focus on the economic analysis and quantification of resource availability