Students make pellets from coffee grounds as fuel

Using coffee grounds and sawdust, four young people from the Coffuel project create fuel pellets for industrial boilers to replace coal, firewood, and gas.

The Coffuel project was carried out by Nguyen Xuan Bao, School of Chemistry and Life Sciences , Hanoi University of Science and Technology, and a group of friends including Pham Minh Long Hai, Bui Nguyen Khanh Linh, and Nguyen Minh Anh.

Biomass pellets from coffee grounds by the Coffuel group. Photo: Research team

Bao said the idea for this agricultural by-product was sparked during a trip to a coffee plantation in Dak Lak, where he realized "there was too little value from coffee trees being utilized." In February 2022, the group began looking for a solution to exploit energy from coffee grounds.

The group collects grounds from coffee processing plants and sawdust from woodworking workshops. The coffee grounds are treated for odor, excess essential oils and substandard size scraps are removed. The sawdust is screened for size, cleanliness and moisture. The raw materials are fed into an industrial rotary dryer to bring the moisture content to about 8-10%.

After the drying stage is the process of mixing 50 - 55% coffee grounds, 42 - 44% sawdust, heating to keep the mixture at the right humidity, avoiding mold. The temperature is maintained at 75 - 80 degrees to melt the tannin compound in the coffee grounds, combined with the high lignin content of sawdust to form a natural adhesive.

In the final step, the raw material will go through a high pressure pressing process and be pressed into pellets with an output mold. The pressing pressure is adjusted according to the form of industrial pellets or household pellets.

"The pellets are 120% more efficient than wood pellets and burn up to 90% less ash than traditional coal," said Pham Minh Long Hai, a team member.

Coffuel project won the Champion of the HUST Technology Startup Innovation Competition (Techstart 2023).

The Coffuel project won the championship in the technology startup competition. Photo: Ha An

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Phong Dien, Vice President of Hanoi University of Science and Technology, highly appreciated the idea and proposed solutions that benefit the community. This is also a promising research direction for commercializing products.

Nhu Quynh

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