A group of local scientists has recently developed a method... to convert coffee grounds into bio-fuel.<br />That means South Korea could reuse nearly 150-thousand tons of waste,... that gets thrown out every year.<br />Cho Sung-min reports.<br />South Korea imported one-hundred-forty-three-thousand tons of coffee last year.<br />That annual figure is estimated at over one-hundred-fifty tons,... when also accounting for coffee beans that are brought into the nation separately... by travelers and tourists. <br />That's a great deal of caffeine and an extra supply of energy for consumers,... but it also creates a large amount of coffee residues... that are thrown out as waste.<br />The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials says it has developed a way to use the coffee waste... using a new technology to convert coffee grounds into renewable energy sources, such as bio-fuel.<br />This is done using a reactor that vaporizes coffee grounds... by heating them at five-hundred degrees Celsius. <br />When the coffee waste evaporates from the intense heat,... renewable bio-energy is produced. <br />The technology in its current form... can convert two-hundred kilograms of coffee grounds into approximately two-point-five tons of bio-fuel. <br />The conversion process only takes an hour to complete,... and the team says the technology is mature enough to be commercialized right away. <br />"This is such an efficient way of creating and using renewable energy, since it produces bio-fuel using waste that previously could not be recycled."<br />The team says, due to its efficiency and eco-friendly traits,... bio-fuel can become a prominent energy source in the coming years,... and added it is finding ways to further improve the technology... to yield higher energy conversion rates.<br />Cho Sung-min, Arirang News. <br />
