Abstract

A few industries, such as the beverage industry, have experienced some growth in sales during the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally, beverage companies alone generate over 200 million tonnes of biomass annually, which largely ends up as animal feed or in landfills. With the UK government’s commitment to reduce its carbon footprint by at least 68% in 2030, many companies, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), are exploring options to reduce carbon emissions and develop roadmaps to become carbon neutral. It has thus become imperative for beverage companies to find value in or repurpose their waste. This paper unlocks the potential for improving the fuel properties of beverage waste through a blending process and explores the determination of optimal fractions for the blends via characterization. With an initial moisture content of 82 and 58 wt.% brewery spent grain (BSG) and spent coffee grounds (SCG), respectively, the pre-treatment process reduced moisture content by approximately 10–15 wt.%. The study concludes that biomass blending improved the fuel properties of the biomass, providing a competitive comparison with coal for energy applications.

摘要

在 COVID-19 大流行期间，饮料行业等少数行业的销售额有所增长。在全球范围内，仅饮料公司每年就产生超过 2 亿吨生物质，这些生物质主要作为动物饲料或填埋。随着英国政府承诺到 2030 年将其碳足迹至少减少 68%，许多公司，尤其是中小型企业 (SME)，正在探索减少碳排放的方案并制定实现碳中和的路线图。因此，饮料公司必须在废物中寻找价值或重新利用它们。本文揭示了通过混合过程改善饮料废物燃料特性的潜力，并探讨了通过表征确定混合物的最佳分数。初始水分含量为 82 和 58 wt。% 啤酒糟 (BSG) 和废咖啡渣 (SCG)，预处理过程分别降低了约 10-15 wt.% 的水分含量。该研究得出结论，生物质混合改善了生物质的燃料特性，为能源应用提供了与煤炭的竞争比较。