Integrated strategies for water removal and lipid extraction from coffee industry residues

Spent coffee grounds (SCGs) and roasted defective coffee beans (RDCBs), are a potentially sustainable source for biofuel production if the processing of these residues, and the recovery of energy-dense lipids, can be undertaken in an energy efficient way. A necessary step in solvent extraction of lipids is prior drying of the feedstock, and this can incur a significant energy cost in the case of SCGs. This study investigates solvent extraction strategies for crude lipid recovery from wet or partially dried SCG samples, with mechanical pressing used as pre-treatment and alternative to thermal drying. Dewatering of SCGs by application of pressures up to 550 bars removed 42% of the moisture present, while lipid expression from whole RDCBs was achieved, with a maximum crude lipid recovery of 77.1% relative to available oil obtained. Crude extracts removal from partially wet pressed SCGs through accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) with ethanol was not impeded by moisture presence, and the obtained extracts had high energy density (∼39 MJ/kg) comparable to hexane-extracted crude lipids. SCG and RDCB crude oil removed through solvent extraction and mechanical pressing respectively had similar fatty acid (FA) compositions, but a higher proportion of free fatty acids (FFAs) in solvent-extracted oil.