New research in producing energy from waste materials appears to be the focus in labs across the world. First the extraction of oil from spent coffee grounds will be done using relatively safe, low toxicity solvents such as dichloromethane and hexane. Then the separation of oil from the solvents will be done using vacuum filtration and rotary evaporation. Solvents will be collected from the rotary evaporator and reused for further extraction. After the oil is isolated from the solvents it will be transesterified with methanol and KOH to optimum yield using HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography) analysis. Then finally producing crude biodiesel with removal of solvents and catalyst. Previous studies have been done in large scales of solvents and coffee grounds. In order to limit excessive use and recycle solvents 60-100 mL of solvent will be used and 20-33 grams of dried spent coffee grounds resulting in 3-5 mL of biodiesel being produced. Once maximum yield is found and results are satisfactory, establishing possible general chemistry and advanced chemistry labs can be done. With a general chemistry lab consisting only the extraction and separation process. While advanced classes can proceed and include the transesterfication and characterization process.

Extraction of coffee ground oil for biodiesel production

243rd National Meeting (2012)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.