Technoeconomic and environmental assessment of a process for biodiesel production from spent coffee grounds (SCGs)

The valorization of the spent coffee grounds (SCGs) has attracted a lot of attention recently from both the academia and industry. The development of an economically attractive and environmentally sustainable process based on available experimental data on the SCGs valorization has not been investigated in the open literature. This is clearly a very important issue and is the subject of the present work. Evidence is presented to support the conclusion that the economic performance of the process can be acceptable only at large production capacities realized at centralized facilities. In addition, it is shown, using a gate-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCI), that the environmental performance of the process is acceptable and the process can be considered sustainable. Further research is necessary in the area of efficient recovery of the bioactive compounds available in SCGs. These compounds have a significant added value that can render the process economically attractive at capacities that are low enough to be practically realizable.