Coffee grounds recycled into sustainable fire logs

Clean tech company bio-bean is crowdfunding Coffee Logs, its latest sustainable biofuel product and first to be available to the public.

We first came across bio-bean early last year, and have since interviewed the founders about the startup, which is responsible for the world’s first industrial coffee waste recycling facility that produces carbon neutral biofuels. Now, bio-bean is crowdfunding for its first consumer product, Coffee Logs.

Coffee Logs are biomass briquettes that can be used in almost any fire-heated appliance, from pizza ovens to wood burning stoves and BBQs. Biofuels are plant-based energy sources designed specifically to replace petrochemicals and fossil fuels. Corn-based ethanol is one of the most commonly known and used biofuels, although there are questions as to its true environmental impact — the energy used to produce ethanol could be more than the fuel it provides.

Second-generation biofuels, which are what bio-bean produces, improve the sustainability of production. By using local waste material as the main ingredient in its products, and working with infrastructure already in place, including waste management teams, bio-bean is able to produce truly carbon-neutral fuel. In its ideal circular economy, bio-bean wants everyone to be #poweredbycoffee.

Could technologies be adapted to enable localized biofuels specific to each community’s waste?