Sustainability, Vol. 11, Pages 6572: The Role of ICT in Supporting Spent Coffee Grounds Collection and Valorization: A Quantitative Assessment (Sustainability)

As never before, there is nowadays the will to consider alternative energy sources from renewable and waste materials so as to preserve planet and society. One of the possible elements suitable for this purpose is every day in our houses: Coffee. Or rather, spent coffee grounds. Indeed, many studies in recent years have addressed its potential exploitation, especially for biodiesel production; recent works also pointed out its possible thermal valorization for industrial processes. In light of this, this paper proposes a new sustainable use of spent coffee grounds, converted into combustible pellets; this source can then be used not only for industrial heaters, but also for public or private buildings. To this end, a feasibility study of a pellet production plant fed by waste collected by vending companies operating in the North of Italy is developed, including the logistic model supported by an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) system to help gather spent coffee grounds from the different companies and collect them into the pellet production facility.