Fight Global Warming With Leftover Coffee

Huge amounts of leftover coffee grounds can be used to power homes and combat global warming, says a study.

15:59 03 September 2015

A cup of coffee is the number one morning drink of choice for millions of people across the globe. Aside from powering up at the start of the day, coffee can also be used to combat global warming, as claimed by a recent study.

 

Researchers have found that huge amounts of leftover coffee grounds could be used to power homes and combat global warning as they have the ability to store methane. Scientists have developed a simple process that enable the grounds to absorb methane, resulting in methane-heavy coffee mixture that can be burnt to produce electricity. The process was developed by researchers at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea.

 

Christian Kemp, the lead author of the study said: “We were sitting around drinking coffee and looked at the coffee grounds and thought, ‘I wonder if we can use this for methane storage?’

 

“The big thing is that we are decreasing the fabrication time and we are using cheap materials. The waste material is free compared to all the metals and expensive organic chemicals needed in other processes – in my opinion this is a far easier way to go,” he added.