Indonesia develops coffee grounds into electric vehicle battery materials

A team of researchers from the Faculty of Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials at the University of Indonesia has developed a method to turn coffee grounds into a material used in Lithium-ion batteries.

 Coffee grounds can be used to create electric car batteries. (Photo: Jakarta Post).

Researchers Indonesia said coffee grounds are processed as part of the material graphite (graphene) conductivity, then mixed with the compound titanium dioxide produce lithium titanate (LTO) - a kind Lithium-ion battery has high stability, safe operation.

Meanwhile, coconut shell residue is used to make activated carbon, added to the anode part of Lithium-ion electric vehicle batteries. These materials make the battery lighter and have a faster charge time. Lithium-ion batteries (including LTO batteries) are being used in many modern products, including electric motorcycles, electric cars, smartphones, laptops, industrial robots, etc.

Bambang Priyono, a member of the research team, said the idea of ​​​​using coffee grounds to make Lithium-ion batteries came after the team saw a lot of wasted coffee grounds waste from coffee batches. do not use. After studying this waste, they discovered that coffee grounds can be converted into conductive graphite for LTO batteries. According to research, using coffee grounds is not only beneficial in terms of economy but also environmental protection, because heating coffee grounds for battery generation does not require too much heat compared to other normal materials.

Indonesia is one of the largest coffee producing countries in the world with an average annual output of about 600,000 tons and a total coffee growing area of ​​more than 1.3 million hectares. In the context that Indonesia is developing the electric vehicle industry and aims to become the world's largest battery producer, researching to put coffee grounds into the composition of Lithium - ion batteries can become a viable project, bringing thrift.