Term 252

Modular Portable Biorefinery for Waste Coffee Conversion

Project Type: Self-Initiated

Project Description

In this project, we designed a portable, modular biorefinery that converts spent coffee grounds (SCG) into biodiesel and biochar. The system includes SCG conditioning, an oil extraction module, and a base-catalyzed transesterification module that reacts coffee oil with methanol and KOH at 58–62 °C to produce biodiesel in 1.0–5.0 L batches within 120 minutes or less. The remaining solids are directed toward a biochar pathway, where the pyrolysis step is simulated due to high-temperature and budget/equipment limitations. The design also includes filtration/purification, safe handling provisions, sensor-based monitoring, energy limits, emergency shutdown, and CSV data logging for batch evaluation and future validation.