A process to separate the oil out of used coffee grounds and convert it into biofuel, creating cheap biodiesel from what was once trash has been created by the researchers at the University of Nevada-Reno.

It has been learnt that waste coffee contains between 11% and 20% percent oil by weight, which is about as much as virgin biofuel oils like palm and soybean.

A whopping 8 million barrels of biodiesel annually could be created via all of the spent coffee grounds generated worldwide, or roughly a third of the daily oil consumption of the U.S.  

A small pilot plant is being planned to be developed by the researchers with the aim to produce and test the experimental fuel within the next six to eight months.