Knowledge Agora



Similar Articles

Title Life cycle environmental sustainability of valorisation routes for spent coffee grounds: From waste to resources
ID_Doc 21441
Authors Rivera, XCS; Gallego-Schmid, A; Najdanovic-Visak, V; Azapagic, A
Title Life cycle environmental sustainability of valorisation routes for spent coffee grounds: From waste to resources
Year 2020
Published
Abstract Spent coffee grounds (SCGs) have a potential to be used as a feedstock for higher value-added products, such as biodiesel. However, the environmental implications of the valorisation of SCGs are largely unknown. This study evaluates the life cycle environmental impacts of utilising SCGs for biodiesel production in comparison with the widely used disposal of SCGs as a waste stream: incineration, landfilling, anaerobic digestion, composting and direct application to land. The scope is from cradle to grave and the functional unit is defined as 'treatment of 1 tonne of SCGs'. The results show that the most environmentally sustainable option is incineration of SCGs, with net-negative impacts (savings) in 14 out of 16 categories, followed by direct application of SCGs to land with 11 net-negative impacts. Biodiesel production is the least sustainable option with the highest impacts in 11 categories, followed by composting. The paper also demonstrates that following various waste hierarchy and resource valorisation guidelines instead of a life cycle approach could lead to a choice of environmentally inferior SCG utilisation options. Therefore, these guidelines should be revised to ensure that they are consistent and underpinned by life cycle thinking, thus aiding sustainable resource management in a circular economy context.
PDF https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.104751

Similar Articles

ID Score Article
27244 Forcina, A; Petrillo, A; Travaglioni, M; di Chiara, S; De Felice, F A comparative life cycle assessment of different spent coffee ground reuse strategies and a sensitivity analysis for verifying the environmental convenience based on the location of sites(2023)
6308 Yeoh, L; Ng, KS Future Prospects of Spent Coffee Ground Valorisation Using a Biorefinery Approach(2022)
26172 Arias, A; Ioannidou, SM; Giannakis, N; Feijoo, G; Moreira, MT; Koutinas, A Review of potential and prospective strategies for the valorization of coffee grounds within the framework of a sustainable and circular bioeconomy(2023)
3065 Mayson, S; Williams, ID Applying a circular economy approach to valorize spent coffee grounds(2021)
21383 Zabaniotou, A; Kamaterou, P Food waste valorization advocating Circular Bioeconomy - A critical review of potentialities and perspectives of spent coffee grounds biorefinery(2019)
33038 Zhao, N; Liu, ZY; Yu, T; Yan, FJ Spent coffee grounds: Present and future of environmentally friendly applications on industries-A review(2024)
12654 Banu, JR; Kannah, RY; Kumar, MD; Preethi; Kavitha, S; Gunasekaran, M; Zhen, GY; Awasthi, MK; Kumar, G Spent coffee grounds based circular bioeconomy: Technoeconomic and commercialization aspects(2021)
4692 Idowu, IA; Hashim, K; Shaw, A; Nunes, LJR Enemy recovery from brewery spent grains and spent coffee grounds: a circular economy approach to waste valorization(2023)Biofuels-Uk, 14, 4
29762 Bijla, L; Aissa, R; Laknifli, A; Bouyahya, A; Harhar, H; Gharby, S Spent coffee grounds: A sustainable approach toward novel perspectives of valorization(2022)Journal Of Food Biochemistry, 46.0, 8
20461 Karmee, SK A spent coffee grounds based biorefinery for the production of biofuels, biopolymers, antioxidants and biocomposites(2018)
Scroll