IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v17y2024i23p5875-d1527448.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Combustion of Pelletized Coffee Residues for Bioenergy Valorization Within a Circular Economy Vision

Author

Listed:
  • Vincenzo Civitarese

    (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Engineering and Agro-Food Processing, 00015 Monterotondo, Italy)

  • Angelo Del Giudice

    (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Engineering and Agro-Food Processing, 00015 Monterotondo, Italy)

  • Andrea Acampora

    (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Engineering and Agro-Food Processing, 00015 Monterotondo, Italy)

  • Elisa Fischetti

    (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Engineering and Agro-Food Processing, 00015 Monterotondo, Italy)

  • Thomas Gasperini

    (Department of Agriculture, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy)

  • Carmine De Francesco

    (Department of Agriculture, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy)

  • Giuseppe Toscano

    (Department of Agriculture, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy)

  • Antonio Scarfone

    (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Centre for Engineering and Agro-Food Processing, 00015 Monterotondo, Italy)

Abstract

Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world; the European Union alone consumes about 2.5 million tons of coffee per year. Yearly, millions of tons of coffee residues are generated, becoming an attractive material for circular economy flows. This study explores the potential of utilizing pelletized coffee residues as sustainable bioenergy sources within the framework of a circular economy. The coffee residues, obtained from damaged capsules and pods from factories, were utilized in pure form or blended with sawdust at different percentages, then analyzed with respect to their physical and thermochemical parameters. The results indicate that unblended coffee residues exhibit favorable combustion properties with respect to heating value (18.84 MJ kg −1 ), but also high concentrations of N (4.14%) compared to the conventional pellets obtained from other agricultural residues. The blending with woody material negatively affects both durability and bulk density, but simultaneously promotes a reduction in ash content (3.09%) and N content (1.94%). In general, this study confirmed the findings of previous scientific reports, highlighting that at least 50% blending with low-nitrogen biomasses is necessary to reach the marketability of the product. In addition, this study highlighted the criticality in terms of durability that these mixtures confer to the final product, emphasizing that future research should focus on optimizing the combination of these factors to improve the properties of the pellet.

Suggested Citation

  • Vincenzo Civitarese & Angelo Del Giudice & Andrea Acampora & Elisa Fischetti & Thomas Gasperini & Carmine De Francesco & Giuseppe Toscano & Antonio Scarfone, 2024. "Combustion of Pelletized Coffee Residues for Bioenergy Valorization Within a Circular Economy Vision," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-13, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:23:p:5875-:d:1527448
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/23/5875/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/23/5875/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ras Izzati Ismail & Chu Yee Khor & Alina Rahayu Mohamed, 2023. "Pelletization Temperature and Pressure Effects on the Mechanical Properties of Khaya senegalensis Biomass Energy Pellets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-12, May.
    2. Piotr Sołowiej & Maciej Neugebauer & Ogulcan Esmer, 2024. "Coffee Grounds as an Additive to Wood Pellets," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-13, September.
    3. Lisowski, Aleksander & Olendzki, Dariusz & Świętochowski, Adam & Dąbrowska, Magdalena & Mieszkalski, Leszek & Ostrowska-Ligęza, Ewa & Stasiak, Mateusz & Klonowski, Jacek & Piątek, Michał, 2019. "Spent coffee grounds compaction process: Its effects on the strength properties of biofuel pellets," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 173-183.
    4. Jezerska, Lucie & Sassmanova, Veronika & Prokes, Rostislav & Gelnar, Daniel, 2023. "The pelletization and torrefaction of coffee grounds, garden chaff and rapeseed straw," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 346-354.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Radovan Nosek & Maw Maw Tun & Dagmar Juchelkova, 2020. "Energy Utilization of Spent Coffee Grounds in the Form of Pellets," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-8, March.
    2. Czekała, Wojciech & Łukomska, Aleksandra & Pulka, Jakub & Bojarski, Wiktor & Pochwatka, Patrycja & Kowalczyk-Juśko, Alina & Oniszczuk, Anna & Dach, Jacek, 2023. "Waste-to-energy: Biogas potential of waste from coffee production and consumption," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    3. Kostyniuk, Andrii & Likozar, Blaž, 2024. "Wet torrefaction of biomass waste into high quality hydrochar and value-added liquid products using different zeolite catalysts," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    4. Aleksandra Minajeva & Algirdas Jasinskas & Rolandas Domeika & Edvardas Vaiciukevičius & Egidijus Lemanas & Stanisław Bielski, 2021. "The Study of the Faba Bean Waste and Potato Peels Recycling for Pellet Production and Usage for Energy Conversion," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-14, May.
    5. Eleonora Bottani & Letizia Tebaldi & Andrea Volpi, 2019. "The Role of ICT in Supporting Spent Coffee Grounds Collection and Valorization: A Quantitative Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-44, November.
    6. Kostyniuk, Andrii & Likozar, Blaž, 2024. "Wet torrefaction of biomass waste into value-added liquid product (5-HMF) and high quality solid fuel (hydrochar) in a nitrogen atmosphere," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    7. Sykorova, Veronika & Jezerska, Lucie & Sassmanova, Veronika & Honus, Stanislav & Peikertova, Pavlina & Kielar, Jan & Zidek, Martin, 2024. "Biomass pellets with organic binders - before and after torrefaction," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    8. Bartosz Ciupek & Andrzej Frąckowiak, 2024. "Review of Thermal Calculation Methods for Boilers—Perspectives on Thermal Optimization for Improving Ecological Parameters," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-15, December.
    9. Lachman, Jakub & Lisý, Martin & Baláš, Marek & Matúš, Miloš & Lisá, Hana & Milčák, Pavel, 2022. "Spent coffee grounds and wood co-firing: Fuel preparation, properties, thermal decomposition, and emissions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 464-474.
    10. Piotr Sołowiej & Maciej Neugebauer & Ogulcan Esmer, 2024. "Coffee Grounds as an Additive to Wood Pellets," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-13, September.
    11. Duk-Gam Woo & Sang Hyeon Kim & Tae Han Kim, 2021. "Solid Fuel Characteristics of Pellets Comprising Spent Coffee Grounds and Wood Powder," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-17, January.
    12. Yılmaz, Hasan & Çanakcı, Murad & Topakcı, Mehmet & Karayel, Davut & Yiğit, Mete & Ortaçeşme, Derya, 2023. "In-situ pelletization of campus biomass residues: Case study for Akdeniz University," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 972-983.
    13. Marcin Jewiarz & Krzysztof Mudryk & Marek Wróbel & Jarosław Frączek & Krzysztof Dziedzic, 2020. "Parameters Affecting RDF-Based Pellet Quality," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-17, February.
    14. Mendoza Martinez, Clara Lisseth & Saari, Jussi & Melo, Yara & Cardoso, Marcelo & de Almeida, Gustavo Matheus & Vakkilainen, Esa, 2021. "Evaluation of thermochemical routes for the valorization of solid coffee residues to produce biofuels: A Brazilian case," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    15. Zhang, Congyu & Chen, Wei-Hsin & Ho, Shih-Hsin & Park, Young-Kwon & Wang, Chengyu & Zhang, Ying, 2023. "Pelletization property analysis of raw and torrefied corn stalks for industrial application to achieve agricultural waste conversion," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:23:p:5875-:d:1527448. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.