• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.72-76
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• 2011

In this study, we investigated the characteristics of biodiesel using the waste coffee oil which was extracted by waste coffee grounds. We tried to deduce the optimum conditions by defining the operating variables, such as mole ratio between methanol and coffee oil (6~18) and the reaction temperature ($45{\sim}60^{\circ}C$) in the biodiesel production processes. The performance was evaluated in terms of yields, contents of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), viscosities, and heating values. The optimum reaction temperature was $55^{\circ}C$. Also, the best biodiesel was produced at the mole ratio between methanol and coffee oil of 12. The highest heating value of the produced biodiesel made from coffee oil was 39.0~39.4 MJ/kg, which satisfies the general standard for the biodiesel energy density, 39.3~39.8 MJ/kg.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.178-187
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• 2020

BACKGROUND: Spent coffee grounds are the most valuable resource for agriculture and industry. However, it is almost thrown untreated into landfills or incineration. Composting is an efficient process for converting spent coffee to fertilizer. METHODS AND RESULTS: Composting was conducted in the compost pile (40 ㎥) equipped with a forced aeration system. Physical and chemical properties containing temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, and moisture were measured through the composting period. Moreover, biological changes were examined for the composting phase using Illumina Miseq sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. We found 7-14 phyla comprising 250-716 species from a variety phase of compost. During the composting period, Firmicutes were dominated, followed by Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria. CONCLUSION: The result indicated that the use of spent coffee improved the quality of organic fertilizer and changed the microbial communities, unique to the thermal composting stage, which could enhance the composting process. These findings suggest that spent coffee composted material can provide a significant amount of nutrients, thereby supporting plant growth.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.571-580
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• 2018

In this study, hybrid adsorbents (SS) were prepared by mixing spent coffee grounds (SCG) and sericite, a kind of clay minerals, to adsorb Pb(II) from an aqueous solution. In FT-IR analyses, the main functional groups of SS adsorbents were O-H, C=O and C-N groups. The specific surface area, cation exchange capacity and the pore diameter of SS were larger than those of using SCG and sericite. Formation conditions of the SS adsorbent were the optimum pyrolysis temperature of $300^{\circ}C$, SCG : sericite ratio of 8 : 2, and particle size of 0.3 mm. Langmuir adsorption isotherm was more suitable than Freundlich one, and the maximum adsorption capacity was reached 44.42 mg/g. As a result of the adsorption thermodynamic analysis, the adsorption of Pb(II) onto SS was the physical adsorption and exothermic process in nature. The regeneration of SS adsorbent using distilled water showed 88~92% recovery and the active site of SS adsorbent decreased with increasing the reuse cycle time. As a result, SS adsorbent showed that it can be used to remove Pb(II) easily, inexpensively and efficiently without any pre-treatment from aqueous solutions.

• Carbon letters
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• v.19
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• pp.66-71
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• 2016

The development of nanostructured functional materials derived from biomass and/or waste is of growing importance for creating sustainable energy-storage systems. In this study, nanoporous carbonaceous materials containing numerous heteroatoms were fabricated from waste coffee grounds using a top-down process via simple heating with KOH. The nanoporous carbon nanosheets exhibited notable material properties such as high specific surface area (1960.1 m² g⁻¹), numerous redox-active heteroatoms (16.1 at% oxygen, 2.7 at% nitrogen, and 1.6 at% sulfur), and high aspect ratios (>100). These unique properties led to good electrochemical performance as supercapacitor electrodes. A specific capacitance of ~438.5 F g⁻¹ was achieved at a scan rate of 2 mV s⁻¹, and a capacitance of 176 F g⁻¹ was maintained at a fast scan rate of 100 mV s⁻¹. Furthermore, cyclic stability was achieved for over 2000 cycles.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.536-545
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• 2019

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the adsorptive removal of Pb(II) from an aqueous solution using a mixture of spent coffee grounds and chitosan on beads (CC-beads). Various parameters affecting the adsorption process of Pb(II) using CC-beads were investigated. Based on the experimental data, the adsorption kinetics and adsorption isotherms were analyzed for their adsorption rate, maximum adsorption capacity, adsorption energy and adsorption strength. Moreover, the entropy, enthalpy and free energy were also calculated by thermodynamic analysis. According to the FT-IR analysis, a CC-bead has a very suitable structure for easy heavy metal adsorption. The process of adsorbing Pb(II) using CC-beads was suitable for pseudo-second order kinetic and Langmuir model, with a maximum adsorption capacity of 163.51 (mg/g). The adsorption of Pb(II) using CC-beads was closer to chemical adsorption than physical adsorption. In addition, the adsorption of Pb(II) on CC-beads was exothermic and spontaneous in nature. CC-beads are economical because they are inexpensive and also the waste can be recycled, which is very significant in terms of the continuous circulation of resources. Thus, CC-beads can compete with other adsorbents.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.589-598
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to analyze the efficiency with which phosphorylated spent coffee grounds (PSCG) remove cationic Cu(II) ions from an aqueous solution. The pHpzc of the SCG was 6.43, but it was lowered to 3.96 in the PSCG, confirming that an acidic functional group was attached to the surface of the PSCG. According to FT-IR analysis, phosphorylation of the SCG added P=O, P-O-C (aromatic), P=OOH, and P-O-P groups to the surface of the adsorbent, and the peaks of the carboxyl and OH groups were high and broad. Also, the specific surface area, mesopore range, and ion exchange capacity increased significantly by phosphorylation. The adsorption kinetics and isothermal experiments showed that Cu(II) adsorption using SCG and PSCG was explained by PSO and Langmuir models. The maximum Langmuir adsorption capacity of SCG and PSCG was 42.23 and 162.36 mg/g, respectively. The adsorption process of both SCG and PSCG was close to physical adsorption and endothermic reaction in which the adsorption efficiency increased with temperature. PSCG was very effective in adsorbing Cu(II) in aqueous solution, which has great advantages in terms of recycling resources and adsorbing heavy metals using waste materials.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.89-95
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• 2022

The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of spent coffee grounds (SCG) biofiller on the morphological, thermal, mechanical and hydrolytic degradation characteristics of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) based biocomposites. The PLA-based biocomposite films were fabricated by using a high-viscosity kneading and hot-pressing machine. The PLA/SCG biocomposites were analyzed with SEM, DSC, TGA, UTM and hydrolytic degradation test. Aggregation in the PLA matrix is a result of increasing SCG concentrations. In the thermal properties, it was described that the cold crystallization temperature (T_cc) decreased as SCG was added to PLA. When SCG was incorporated to PLA, the degradation onset temperature (T_onset) revealed a diminish. The elastic modulus increased while tensile strength of PLA diminished as SCG was applied. Through hydrolysis analysis, the decomposition of PLA was accelerated with the addition of SCG. This research confirmed the possibility of devloping an eco-friendly packaging material with high degradability as SCG hasten the breakdown of PLA.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.163-168
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• 2018

Biomass waste-derived carbon is an attractive alternative with environmental benignity to obtain carbon material. In this study, we prepare carbon from coffee grounds as a biomass precursor using a simple, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly method through physical activation using only steam. The coffee-derived carbon, having a micropore-rich structure and a low extent of graphitization of disordered carbon, is developed and directly applied to lithium-ion battery anode material. Compared with the introduction of the Ketjenblack (KB) conducting agent (i.e., coffee-derived carbon with KB), the coffee-derived carbon itself achieves a reversible capacity of ~200 mAh/g (0.54 lithium per 6 carbons) at a current density of 100 mA/g after 100 cycles, along with excellent cycle stability. The origin of highly reversible lithium storage is attributed to the consistent diffusion-controlled intercalation/de-intercalation reaction in cycle life, which suggests that the bulk diffusion of lithium is favorable in the coffee-derived carbon itself, in the absence of a conducting agent. This study presents the preparation of carbon material through physical activation without the use of chemical activation agents and demonstrates an application of coffee-derived carbon in energy storage devices.

• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.325-331
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• 2021

In this study, bio-carbons were produced by activation process from unused biomass (Grade 3 wood pellet and spent coffee grounds) to determine the removal performance of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. The activation experiments were conducted in a fixed bed reactor using CO₂ as an activation agent. The temperature of the activation reactor and input of CO₂ were 900 ℃ and 1 L min^-1 for all the experiments. The maximum BET surface area of about 788 m² g^-1 was obtained for bio-carbon produced from Grade 1 wood pellet, whereas about 544 m² g^-1 was achieved with bio-carbon produced from spent coffee grounds. In all the experiments, the bio-carbons produced were mainly found to have micro-porous nature. A lower ash amount in raw material was favored for the high surface area of bio-carbons. In the removal test of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, the bio-carbon produced from spent coffee grounds showed excellent adsorption performance compared with woody biomass (Grade 1 wood pellet and Grade 3 wood pellet). In addition, the comparative experiment of commercial impregnated activated carbon and bio-carbon produced from spent coffee grounds was conducted. In terms of formaldehyde removal performance, the commercial impregnated bio-carbon was excellent, while bio-carbon produced from spent coffee grounds was excellent in acetaldehyde removal.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.45-49
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• 2019

Relatively fine silicon carbide (SiC) crystalline aggregates have been synthesized with the carbonized rice husks, paper sludge, coffee grounds as the carbon sources and the silica powder. The main reaction source to obtain silicon carbide (SiC) aggregates from the mixture of carbon sources and silica was inferred as the gaseous silicon monoxide (SiO) phase, being created from this mixture through the carbothermal reduction reaction. The silicon carbide (SiC) crystalline aggregates, fabricated from the carbonized rice husks and paper sludge, coffee grounds and silica ($SiO_2$) powder, were investigated by XRD patterns, FE-SEM and FE-TEM images. In these specimens, obtained from the carbonized rice husks, paper sludge and silica, XRD patterns showed rather high strong peak of (111) plane near $35^{\circ}$. The FE-TEM images and patterns of specimens, synthesized from carbonized rice husks, paper sludge, coffee grounds and silica under Ar atmosphere, showed relatively fine particles under $1{\mu}m$ and crystalline peak (110) of silicon carbide (SiC) diffraction pattern.