Accepted Manuscript

Characteristics of spent coffee ground as a fuel and combustion test in a small

boiler (6.5kW)

Sae Byul Kang, Hong Young Oh, Jong Jin Kim, Kyu Sung Choi

PII: S0960-1481(17)30596-7

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2017.06.092

Reference: RENE 8959

To appear in: Renewable Energy

Received Date: 01 December 2016

Revised Date: 19 May 2017

Accepted Date: 27 June 2017

Please cite this article as: Sae Byul Kang, Hong Young Oh, Jong Jin Kim, Kyu Sung Choi,
Characteristics of spent coffee ground as a fuel and combustion test in a small boiler (6.5kW),
Renewable Energy (2017), doi: 10.1016/j.renene.2017.06.092

This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to
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 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

1 Characteristics of spent coffee ground as a fuel and combustion test in

2 a small boiler (6.5kW)
3

4 Sae Byul Kanga,*, Hong Young Ohb, Jong Jin Kima and Kyu Sung Choia
5

6 a Energy Network Laboratory, Korea Institute of Energy Research, Daejeon 34129,

7 Korea
8 b Research and Development Team, Korea Laboratory Engineering System, Daejeon,
9 305-509, Korea
10

11

12 * Correspondence: byulkang@kier.re.kr; Tel.: +82-42-860-3321

13

14

15 Abstract
16 Spent Coffee Ground is a residue of coffee drink mainly used at a coffee shop. Spent coffee
17 ground is used as an odor removal, manure in flowerpot and so on. However most of spent
18 coffee ground is discarded as garbage. In this study, we investigated characteristics of spent
19 coffee ground as a fuel and combustion characteristics in a small boiler system (6.5 kW based
20 on input lower heating value), such as CO, NOx, O2 and heating characteristic of heating boiler.
21 Drying of spent coffee ground in the open air condition takes less than 6 days in case of height
22 of 11 mm. More than 96 % of spend coffee ground is between 100 ~ 500 m in particle size.
23 Lower heating value of spent coffee ground used as fuel is about 18.8 MJ/kg (4 500 kcal/kg at
24 water content 10 %). Combustion chamber of the boiler is a crucible type with primary and
25 secondary air supply and heat exchanger is one through type. Spent coffee ground consumption
26 as a fuel of the boiler is about 1.17 kg/hr. O2 concentration of the flue gas of the boiler is about
27 17.8 % which is higher than a commercial domestic gas boiler or a domestic wood pellet boiler.
28 CO and NOx concentration are 643 and 163 ppm respectively.
29 Keywords: boiler; combustion; heating value; spent coffee ground
30

31

32 1. Introduction
33 Nowadays, there are many solid biomass resources replacing fossil fuel, such as olive dry

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34 pomace, palm kernel, sunflower shells, bagasse, paper fiber residues, miscanthus, straw and so
35 on [1]. Spent coffee ground (SCG) is one of those solid biomass resources. Ministry of
36 Environment of Korea reported that annual amount of spent coffee ground in Korea is up to
37 103 000 ton in 2014 [2]. If heating value of spent coffee ground is 18.8 MJ/kg, total heating
38 value of annually unused spent coffee ground is more than 1 940 TJ (46.3 Gtoe, ton of oil
39 equivalent). Originally spent coffee ground has higher water content more than 50 % just after
40 making a drink coffee. Figure 1 shows picture of spent coffee ground and coffee bean. Figure
41 2 gives lower heating values of various solid biomass resources [3]. Lower heating value of
42 solid biomass resources is about 8.4 ~ 20.9 MJ/kg (2 000 ~ 5 000 kcal/kg) which can be varied
43 in accordance with water content. Lower heating value of wet spent coffee ground has very
44 low heating value about 8.4 MJ/kg (2 000 kcal/kg), but that of dried spent coffee ground
45 (dSCG) has relatively high heating value compared to the other solid biomass resources. The
46 Swiss 3R company sells spent coffee ground briquette as a fuel for barbecuing in open fire
47 spaces and in wood furnaces. [1]
48 T. J. Pilusa et al. [4, 5] made an ecofuel briquettes with 32% spent coffee ground, 23% coal
49 fines, 11% saw dust and so on for domestic applications. Their results say that the ecofuel
50 briquettes emit lower toxic emissions compared to fossil fuel.
51

52

53

54

55 Figure 1. Picture of spent coffee ground (left) and coffee bean before brewing (right).
56

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50

45

40
Lower Heating Value [MJ/kg] 35

30

25

20

15

10

57

58 Figure 2. Lower heating value of various solid biomass resources including spent
59 coffee ground and fossil fuels [3].
60

61 L. Limousy et al. [6] did a combustion test in a commercial residential wood pellet boiler with
62 a pure spent coffee ground pellet, a blended pellet (50% spent coffee ground and 50% sawdust)
63 and a pure pine wood pellet. Combustion of a pure spent coffee ground pellet emits higher CO
64 and NOx concentration but combustion of a blended spent coffee ground pellet emits relatively
65 low CO and NOx similar to combustion of a pure pine wood pellet [6].
66 As viewpoint of air pollution, V. K. Verma et al [7] did boiler efficiency test and flue gas
67 analysis for various solid biomass pellets, such as wood, apple, peat, grass, sunflower husk and
68 so on. Their findings are some high ash content with low melting point fuel such as straw pellet
69 is unsuitable for domestic boiler but canary grass pellet and citrus shell pellet with low ash
70 content can be more suitable for domestic boiler. And there are studies on pellet burner and
71 optimization [8-10].
72 Arce et al [11] studied combustion characteristics of wood pellet on fixed bed reactor with
73 various conditions. They concluded that particle size of wood pellet, water content are major
74 parameter on combustion and heat transfer. Moradian et al [12] conducted combustion test on
75 a fluidized bed boiler with fuel of a normal sold waste and mixing with animal wastes. They
76 found that solid waste with 20~30% animal waste reduced bed temperature by 70~100℃ and
77 reduced the deposition growth rate. Chun et al [13] studied pyrolysis and gasification
78 characteristics of sewage sludge. Sewage sludge has also high water contents and nitrogen.
79 Their study focuses on high quality gas and char production.
80 Gomez et al [14] conducted simulation study on effect of water temperature on domestic

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81 bioimass boiler performance. Their results showed that low water temperature increase heating
82 performance but also increase CO emission
83 L. Limousy et al [15] did experimental study on gaseous products and particulate matter
84 emission of biomass boiler. They used 12kW wood pellet boiler with spent coffee ground
85 pellet, pine pellet and blend pellet. Their results show that boiler efficiency with pure spent
86 coffee ground pellet was 64.1% which is lower than boiler efficiency of the other pellets.
87 In this study, we investigate characteristics of spent coffee ground as a fuel and combustion
88 test with spent coffee ground in particle state. Elementary and proximate analysis of spent
89 coffee ground were conducted. We measure lower heating value of spent coffee ground and
90 coffee bean before brewing compared to wood chip and wood pellet. Spent coffee ground just
91 after brewing has higher water content more than 50%. Drying characteristics of spent coffee
92 ground were investigated in the open air. We check drying characteristics in outdoor condition.
93 Finally we develop a 6.5 kWth boiler with pure spent coffee ground, perform heating test and
94 flue gas analysis.
95

96 2. Characteristics of spent coffee ground as a fuel

97 2.1. Elementary and proximate analysis
98 Most important characteristic as a fuel is a heating value. We compare lower heating value of
99 spent coffee ground with wood pellet and wood chip. As can be seen in Figure 3, lower heating
100 value of wood pellet with 7~10% water content is 16.3 ~ 17.6 MJ/kg (3 900 ~ 4 200 kcal/kg).
101 On the contrary, wood chip has higher water content than wood pellet, so lower heating values
102 of wood chips are lower than wood pellet and range from 1 500 to 3 500 kcal/kg as a function
103 of water content. Water content of woodchips is from 18 to 35%. Lower heating value of coffee
104 bean before brewing ranges from 20.9 ~ 21.8 MJ/kg (5 000 ~ 5 200 kcal/kg) with less than 5%
105 water content. Spent coffee ground just after brewing has high water content more than 55%.
106 So lower heating value is about 8.4 MJ/kg (2 000 kcal/kg). If spent coffee ground is dried below
107 15%, lower heating value is increased more than 18.8 MJ/kg (4 500 kcal/kg) that is higher than
108 lower heating value of a normal wood pellet.

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25
Coffee
bean before brewing
Spent Coffee Ground

Lower heating value based on wet [MJ/kg]

(Dried)
20
Used as fuel
y = -0.237x + 22.626
R² = 0.9912
Wood pellet
15
Wood chip

Spent Coffee Ground

(wet)
10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Water content based on wet base [%]
109

110 Figure 3. Lower heating value of spent coffee ground, coffee bean, wood pellet and wood chip
111 with respect to water content.
112 With dried spent coffee ground, elementary and proximate analysis has been done by quality
113 management team at Korea Institute of Energy Research. We compare the results of dried spent
114 coffee ground to a wood pellet in Table 1. Main differences between wood pellet and spent
115 coffee ground are 1) ash content, 2) hydrogen, 3) Nitrogen and 4) Oxygen content. In Korea,
116 wood pellet with less than 0.7% ash content is categorized as 1st grade wood pellet [16]. The
117 wood pellet in Table 1 must be 1st grade wood pellet in Korea in ash content aspect. On the
118 contrary, coffee bean before brewing and spent coffee ground have 2.1 ~ 3.9% ash which
119 should be categorized as 2nd and 3rd grade wood pellet. With elementary analysis, difference of
120 hydrogen content between wood pellet and coffee bean (or dried spent coffee ground) affects
121 heating value. Hydrogen content of spent coffee ground is higher than wood pellet, so lower
122 heating value of dried spent coffee ground (water content is about 8 ~ 10%) is higher than that
123 of wood pellet. Another difference between wood pellet and spent coffee ground is amount of
124 nitrogen content. Nitrogen content of wood pellet is 0.42%, but that of coffee bean and spent
125 coffee ground is more than 1.4%. High amount of nitrogen may cause high concentration of
126 NOx in flue gas.
127 Table 1. Elementary and proximate analysis on wood pellet, coffee bean before brewing and
128 dried spent coffee ground.
129

Proximate analysis (weight %) Elementary analysis (weight %)

Water Volatile Fixed
Ash C H N O S
content matter carbon

Wood pellet 7.39 74.85 0.55 17.21 48.48 6.33 0.42 44.21 0.01

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Coffee bean
2.10 76.75 3.88 17.27 53.25 6.94 1.62 34.25 0.06
(before brewing)
Dried spent coffee
11.69 70.03 2.06 16.22 53.05 7.19 1.45 36.20 0.05
ground
130

131

132 2.2. Drying characteristic in the open air

133 When spent coffee ground is used as a fuel, a drying process should be needed to lower water
134 content less than 20% from 55% at just after coffee brewing. We check drying time under
135 outdoor circumstance with sunshine. A cuboid tray of (210 x 150 x 20, length x width x height
136 in mm) was used to contain spent coffee ground. Volume and weight of the spent coffee ground
137 are 1) 189 cm3 (210 x 150 x 6 in mm, case 1), 81.6 g and 2) 346.5 cm3 (210 x 150 x 11 in mm,
138 case 2), 160.9 g. We measured weight of the spent coffee ground on line with a scale (CAS
139 MWP). The scale can measure up to 3 000 g with resolution of 0.05 g. The weight data was
140 collected by RS-232 protocol and saved in a computer. Before drying and after drying in the
141 air, water contents were measured by moisture analyzer scale (Kett, FD-720). After drying
142 SCG, initial water content of SCG was set by the result of moisture analyzer scale. Figure 4
143 shows measurement result of water content when initial height of spent coffee ground is 6 mm
144 (case 1) and 11 mm (case 2). In case 1 (SCG height is 6 mm.) the initial water content is more
145 than 60%, but after 2 days water content of spent coffee ground is decreased under 15% which
146 can be usable as a fuel. During 1 day drying, water content of spent coffee ground of case 1
147 was decreasing by 25% point. In case 2 (SCG height is 11 mm.) it took more than 6 days to be
148 under 15% of water content. During 1 day drying, water content of spent coffee ground of case
149 2 was decreasing by 8% point.
70
Water contents based on wet [%]

SCG height
60 case 1 : 6 mm
case 2 : 11 mm
50

40

30

20

10

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
time [day]
150

151 Figure 4. Drying result of spent coffee ground: heights are 6 mm and 11 mm.
152

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153

154 2.3. Particle size of dried spent coffee ground

155 Particle size of a solid fuel is one of important characteristics. We collected spent coffee ground
156 at a local espresso coffee shop in Korea and dried it so as to be less than 15 % water content in
157 the open air. With various size of sieves, we separated dried spent coffee ground into 6 level
158 grain sizes. Sieve sizes are 100, 250, 500, 850, 1000 m. Figure 5 shows pictures of dried spent
159 coffee ground with particle sizes, (a) less than 100 m, (b) 250 ~ 500 m and (c) 500 ~ 800
160 m. Figure 6 represents distribution of particle sizes of dried spent coffee ground. From the
161 result, 96.2% of dried spent coffee ground is between 100 and 500 m. The particle size of
162 dried coffee ground may differ from each coffee grind machines.

(a) (b) (c)

163

164 Figure 5. Pictures of dried spent coffee ground with particle sizes: (a) 500~800 m; (b)
165 250~500 m; (c) ~100 m.
166
80

70 68.2

60

50
distribution [%]

40

28.0
30

20

10
1.3 2.6
0.2 0.9
0
~ 1000 1000~850 850~500 500~250 250~100 100 ~

167 particle size [m]

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168 Figure 6. Distribution of particle size of dried spent coffee ground.

169

170 3. Test in a small scale boiler

171 Before designing small scale boiler fueled by dried spent coffee ground, we made in advance
172 2 types of prototype combustor for dried spent coffee ground. The combustor was made by
173 piping materials, such as 80A straight pipes (outside diameter, OD is 89 mm) and pipe reducer
174 from 80A (OD is 89 mm) to 50A (OD is 60 mm). Concept of 1st trial combustor is burning a
175 dried spent coffee ground on top of a mesh with supplying combustion air under the mesh.
176 With this combustor, we could burn dried coffee ground, but there happened unstable burning
177 occasionally. So we modified combustor based on 1st trial combustor with secondary
178 combustion air chamber. We performed combustion test with the 2nd trial combustor. With the
179 2nd trial combustor, we can burn dried spent coffee ground more stable and longer than the 1st
180 trial combustor.
181 After combustor experiment, we designed boiler system with automatic fuel supply feeder.
182 Combustor design is based on 2nd trial combustor which has primary and secondary air supply
183 chamber. Upper the combustor, heat exchanger of 15A (external diameter is 21.7 mm) stainless
184 bellows type pipe was installed to absorb heat from combustion gas. Figure 7 shows schematic
185 diagram of boiler system, measurement facility and hot water storage. We measured flue gas
186 concentrations such as O2, CO and NOx with TESTO 340 and fuel consumption rate with an
187 electric scale (AND FG 60KAL-H, maximum measurement is 60kg and resolution is 5g). Hot
188 water storage tank can contain 55L of water and its bottom diameter is 34 cm, top diameter is
189 44 cm and height is 52.5 cm. 9 T-type thermocouples were installed to measure temperature of
190 hot water from bottom (0 cm) to top surface of water (40 cm) at intervals of 50 mm.
191 Temperatures were measured by a data logger (Graphtec, Midilogger GL 800) and stored by a
192 personal computer.

193

194 (a) detail view of SCG combustor (b) boiler and test facility of SCG

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195 Figure 7. Schematic diagram of SCG combustor and boiler and test facility with hot water
196 storage.
90
13:38, 78.5°C
80
top surface
350 mm
70
temperature of water [℃]

60

50
100 mm
40
50 mm
30
0 mm
bottom
20
11:12, 9.1°C
10

0
10:33 11:02 11:31 12:00 12:28 12:57 13:26 13:55
197 time [hr]

198 Figure8. Temperatures of hot water storage tank with respect to tank height and time.
199

200 Water content of dried spent coffee ground was 11.1 % with wet base and lower heating value
201 was 20.0 MJ/kg (4 779 kcal/kg). Fuel was supplied the burner with rate of 1.167 kg/hr that is
202 6.5kW (5 577 kcal/hr). Water tank was initially 9.1℃ and contained 40.1 kg water. Burning
203 test had lasted for 146 minutes until the water temperature of storage tank reached more than
204 75℃. Figure 8 shows temperatures of hot water storage tank with respect to tank height and
205 time. There was no water circulation pump so heated water from the boiler flowed naturally.
206 Temperature of storage surface is higher than that of bottom of storage tank due to lower
207 density of hot water. Water temperature of bottom storage tank started to increase after about
208 50 minutes from ignition. Finally after 146 minutes from start, water temperature of entire
209 storage tank was 78.5℃.

210 Figure 9 represents flue gas analysis of burning test of the boiler with dried spent coffee ground.
211 O2 concentration in flue gas was 17.8%. The boiler adapted an induced fan in the middle of
212 chimney, so there was infiltrated air to raise O2 concentration of flue gas. Carbon monoxide
213 (CO) and NOx concentration were about 643 ppm and 163 ppm respectively. With this boiler,
214 possibility to use spent coffee ground as a fuel in small scale boiler was confirmed. For future
215 research, more detailed combustor designs are needed to reduce O2, CO and NOx concentration.
216

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21 1,000

900

20 800
CO : 643 ppm
700

CO, NOx [ppm]

19 600
O2 [%]

500

18 400

O2 : 17.8 % 300

17 200

NOx : 163 ppm 100

16 0
0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18
time [hr]
217

218 Figure 9 Flue gas analysis of burning test of the boiler with dried spent coffee ground.
219

800
● : Spent coffee ground (this study)
○ : Sepnt coffee ground [15]
700 ▲ : Pine [17]
■ : Peach stones [17]
NOx Emission (ppm @ 13% O2)

600 ◆ : Industrial wood waste [17]

□ : Wood B [18]
500 ◇ : Wood C [18]
△ : Citrus pectin waste [19]
400

300

200

100

0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0
Nitrogen content in the pellets (wt %)
220

221 Figure 10 Influence of the nitrogen content of the pellets on the NOx emissions. [15-19]
222 NOx emissions from various solid biomass are shown in Figure 10. Most of NOx emission
223 from solid biomass are from fuel NOx which converted from Nitrogen in the fuel.
224

225 4. Conclusion
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226 In this study, we found a possibility using spent coffee ground as a heating fuel in a small scale
227 residential boiler. Elementary and proximate analysis, test of drying characteristic and particle
228 size of spent coffee ground were performed. We designed a prototype of small scale boiler
229 system for a residential heating fueled with dried spent coffee ground. Summary of the study
230 is as follow.
231

232 1. Water content and lower heating value of spent coffee ground are compared with those of
233 wood pellet. Due to higher value of hydrogen of coffee ground, lower heating value of spent
234 coffee ground is higher than that of wood pellet at similar water content. Lower heating value
235 of dried spent coffee ground at 10 % water content is more than 18.8 MJ/kg (4 500 kcal/kg).
236

237 2. After coffee brewing, water content of spent coffee ground is more than 55% at wet base.
238 With 6 mm height of spend coffee ground, it takes 2 days to be dried less than 15% water
239 content at outside.
240

241 3. 96% of particle size of dried spent coffee ground is 100 ~ 500 m.
242

243 4. With 2 types of prototype burner, we developed a boiler system fueled with dried spent
244 coffee ground. Capacity of the boiler is about 6.5 kW with 1.17 kg/hr fuel consumption rate.
245 With burning test, the boiler can heat up 40 kg water from 9℃ to 78℃ in 146 minutes. O2, CO
246 and NOx concentration of flue gas were 17.8%, 643 ppm and 163 ppm respectively.
247

248 5. Possibility to use spent coffee ground as a fuel in a small scale boiler confirmed in this study.
249 Optimization for combustor design should be needed to reduce O2, CO and NOx concentration
250 in flue gas.
251

252

253 Acknowledgments: This work was conducted under the framework of Research and
254 Development Program of the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER, Korea) (B6-2415-
255 02).
256

257

258 References

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295 Forest Service). Standard of wood pellet (written in Korean) 2013.

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Large amount of spent coffee ground has been treated as waste.

Spent coffee ground as a fuel with enough heating value was compared to the other
renewable solid biomass.
Natural drying of wet spent coffee ground about takes less than 3 days in the open air.
Higher Nitrogen content in spent coffee ground cause higher NOx emission in combustion
than wood pellet.
Precise design of combustor for dried spent coffee ground should be needed to raise boiler
efficiency and emission performance.