Waste coffee grounds are now being used to help power some of London’s buses, City A.M. reported.
The new biofuel, which is created by blending oil extracted from coffee waste with diesel, is to be added to the public transport fuel supply as part of a new initiative from technology firm Bio-Bean and Shell.
Bio-Bean said it has produced enough coffee oil to power one bus for a year. Londoners create 200,000 tonnes of coffee waste a year, the company said.
The company takes the used grounds from coffee shops and instant coffee factories, and extracts oil from it in its factory. This is then processed into a blended B20 biofuel.
The firm believes it would take just over 2.55 million cups of coffee to create enough biofuel to run a London bus for a year once the oil has been blended with diesel.
Six-thousand litres of coffee oil have been produced by the company so far.
Buses can be powered using the fuel without the need for modification.
“It’s a great example of what can be done when we start to reimagine waste as an untapped resource,” Bio-Bean founder, Arthur Kay, said.
Sinead Lynch, Shell UK Country Chair, said: “We’re pleased to be able to support bio-bean to trial this innovative new energy solution which can help to power buses, keeping Londoners moving around the city – powered in part by their waste coffee grounds.”
