Is the Road Ready for Car-puccino?

The BBC show Bang Goes The Theory recently debuted a new take on the trash-as-fuel phenomenon. Rather than turning trash into biofuel first, in the latest model, coffee grounds can be poured directly into the car. In true Back to the Future fashion, the team used a converted 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco because it resembles the DeLorean from the movie. Ah, smarts and a sense of humor!

So what happens when you fuel a car with coffee? First, coffee grounds are poured into a gas cylinder and raised to 700 degrees Celsius in a charcoal fire. The heat turns the coffee into hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The coffee then travels through cooling radiator pipes and through two different cylinders in the trunk. The first one spins out any solid matter, while the second, which is filled with insulation, prevents any hot tar from getting into the engine. Once cleaned, the coffee gas flows through a pipe-like device in order to reach the engine. Once in its final destination, the coffee burns and fuels the car.

Now don't increase your coffee intake just yet. The prototype is far from perfect, or attractive, in its current stage of development. The cost of running the car on coffee is extraordinarily expensive yes, more than petrol in the UK, believe it or not. And it won't be getting you anywhere fast, either, topping out at 60 mph and requiring "coffee breaks" to re-fuel every 30-45 miles. The team will be testing the "car-puccino" on a 210-mile road trip between Manchester and London and guesses it will consume a kilo of ground coffee per three miles, drinking up 56 espressos per mile.

While it won't be tomorrow that we start dumping our trash directly into our vehicles, it's an exciting concept bringing the world that much closer to a pollution solution. And maybe the roads will smell like a big cup of joe!

Photo courtesy of The Daily Mail.