A study in the online journal of the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, reports that waste coffee grounds can provide a cheap, abundant, and environmentally friendly source of biodiesel fuel for powering cars and trucks. The study by Mano Misra, Susanta Mohapatra, and Narasimharao Kondamudi note that the major barrier to wider use of biodiesel fuel is lack of a low-cost, high quality source, or feedstock, for producing that new energy source. Spent coffee grounds contain between 11 and 20 percent oil by weight which is almost as much as traditional biodiesel feedstocks such as rapeseed, palm, and soybean oil.
According to the article, growers produce more than 16 billion pounds of coffee around the world each year and the spent ground often wind up in the trash or find use as soil conditioner. The scientists estimated, however, that spent coffee grounds can potentially add 340 million gallons of biodiesel to the world’s fuel supply.
To verify it, the scientists collected spent coffee grounds from a multinational coffeehouse chain and separated the oil. They then used an inexpensive process to convert 100 percent of the oil into biodiesel.
The resulting coffee-based fuel — which actually smells like java — had a major advantage in being more stable than traditional biodiesel due to coffee’s high antioxidant content, the researchers say. Solids left over from the conversion can be converted to ethanol or used as compost, the report notes. The scientists estimate that the process could make a profit of more than $8 million a year in the U.S. alone. They plan to develop a small pilot plant to produce and test the experimental fuel within the next six to eight months.
For those of you on the Apple Macintosh computer, one of the better screen capture utilities/web services it Skitch.com. The downloadable application allows for a wide range of editting functions along with a variety of embed codes for web forums or blogs. I found the interface a bit cumbersome, but suspect that in time I will learn to like the interface. Since I spend most of my day runnng Windows (unfortunately Vista) on my laptop, a few hours on Linux and ONLY another few on the Mac, I can say that Skitch is the most complete all in one capture utility I have found. It is great way to capture and email/post “chunks” of webpages or screen content found on the Internet or ones own computer. Give it a try if you are using the Mac.
Will automakers rethink importing diesel cars to North America?
Those of us who enjoy driving and owning ‘higher’ performance and efficient diesel cars have had this nagging suspicion that diesel cars may not arrive as planned, considering the auto slowdown and noting the price spread between gasoline and diesel fuel. According to a USA Today article, Honda Motor spokeman David Iida commented that Honda is reconsidering the timing to bring diesel cars to America. He states, “we are re-evaluating, due to trends in gasoline and diesel prices, and the price of raw materials we use in the exhaust clean-up system.” Hopefully they’ll continue as planned and that they realized their competitor Volkswagen still has little problem selling their ‘clean diesel’ TDIs.
It wasn’t entirely doom and gloom for diesel advocates as Iida says Honda will decide “sooner rather than later” on going ahead with U.S. diesels, but wouldn’t pin down a date. The excellent Honda diesel engine that is (was?) to first show up in a 4 cylinder in the luxury Acura brand sedan and be followed by a V-6 diesel in SUVs and perhaps the van. But problems still exist — most Americans have a less than positive view of diesel stemming from past experience and what they see with trucks and with the economy are not really in the car buying mood. They have also notice that the average price of diesel fuel is running 40% to 50% more than average gasoline prices and its difficult even with the improved fuel mileage provided by a diesel engine to pay a buck a gallon more for fuel. It certainly wipes out cost savings buyers expected to recoup by buying a diesel. When gasoline was hitting $4/gallon, a diesel SUV or small car getting 20% to 40% better fuel economy was starting to make sense, even if the original cost was $1500 more than the similar gasoline model, but now with gasoline averaging $1.75 across the nation its not quite as logical. Obviously automakers are rethinking “when” to bring over their diesel cars. (BTW, often overlooked by the buyer is the strong residual values and longevity seen in diesel vehicles)
Besides Honda, there are a few other “car” makers planning to bring diesels to America. I’ve heard Subaru is still planning theirs and know Nissan has a few test vehicles floating around. According to the article, Nissan says it still plans to sell a V-6 diesel in the premium Maxima sedan in the U.S. in 2010. But spokesman Scott Vazin says the price premium for diesel fuel is worrisome. “It’s why we’re putting it on our flagship. We don’t know where (fuel prices) will be when we launch, but we expect some pent-up demand. And our perception of the diesel buyer is someone who keeps the car longer,” minimizing the drawback of its higher price.
Current manufacturers offering diesel cars in the U.S. are: Volkswagen, Jeep, Mercedes-Benz and BMW with Audi offering a TDI in their large SUV next fall.
Those who find baby animals cute (and a miraculous creation) might enjoy these photos to music video. (Really it is just a second test of Twitterfeed to be sure it is working.)
While waiting for a project to finish printing, I thought I would test a new Twitterfeed account set up to update a separat MyDesultoryBlogTwitter account. It is suppose to update with a Tweet whenever my Feedburner RSS feed receives a blog update — or at least within 60 minutes of a post. So … I’m using a the University of Akron’s new Stadium project webcam as a test post. This particular multiple view video setup is one of the better webcams I have seen; hmm … I might even try to convince my son (a student at UA) to walk over in the cold and wave at the camera!
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Ward’s Auto World has published its 15th annual ten best engines list and two new diesel engines made the list. The dual turbocharged 3.0L inline 6 cylinder diesel from BMW and the Volkswagen 2.0L TDI were the first new 50-state legal diesels to be picked by the Ward’s editors. The other fuel efficient engine was in the Ford Escape hybrid as it also is able to record 30 mpg in real world testing by the magazine.
I had written and forward dated a December 7, 1941 post that was to show up … unfortunately it has disappeared (and I’m not rewriting it). I have been having a few problems with my recent WordPress update and how it interfaces with the MySQL database; I wonder it that’s the problem?
For now I’ll just link to my post back in 2005 or 2006.
The crude oil pendulum is swinging back just as quickly as it went up, and might even drop lower than most drivers have seen in quiet a few years. According to reports from a Merrill Lynch Commodity report, oil prices may crash below $25 a barrel in 2009 and gasoline prices could fall below $1 per gallon. Demand for oil continues to decline as economic growth has already down to its weakest level since 1982. The report also states that the global recession could extend to China and that non-Opec cuts will be required. Since October, oil has moved from $100/barrel to a close of $43.64/barrel on Friday. So much for alternative fuels and alternative energy.
While traveling yesterday, I darted across the state of Ohio on Route 30 knowing that occasionally the gasoline prices are less expensive at a truck stop in Beaverdam, Ohio(Route 30 and Interstate 75), but before jumping onto the rural highway and leaving “known” stations, I pulled up GasBuddy‘s GasBuddyToGo on my Palm Treo. A quick check into recent price postings confirmed that I could save 13 cents per gallon by waiting. Give GasBuddyToGo a try on your phone.
A study in the online journal of the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, reports that waste coffee grounds can provide a cheap, abundant, and environmentally friendly source of biodiesel fuel for powering cars and trucks. The study by Mano Misra, Susanta Mohapatra, and Narasimharao Kondamudi note that the major barrier to wider use of biodiesel fuel is lack of a low-cost, high quality source, or feedstock, for producing that new energy source. Spent coffee grounds contain between 11 and 20 percent oil by weight which is almost as much as traditional biodiesel feedstocks such as rapeseed, palm, and soybean oil.
Will automakers rethink importing diesel cars to North America?
Ward’s Auto World has published its 15th annual ten best engines list and two new diesel engines made the list. The dual turbocharged 3.0L inline 6 cylinder diesel from BMW and the Volkswagen 2.0L TDI were the first new 50-state legal diesels to be picked by the Ward’s editors. The other fuel efficient engine was in the Ford Escape hybrid as it also is able to record 30 mpg in real world testing by the magazine.
