Post by cyber4eva on Dec 5, 2019 6:42:54 GMT
BY MATTHEW HUMPHRIES 4 DEC 2019, 12:09 P.M.
Ford will convert the coffee chaff into a durable material that's 20 percent lighter and uses 25 percent less energy to mold into usable vehicle parts.
Our demand for freshly roasted coffee every day produces millions of pounds of coffee chaff, the dried skin that surrounds coffee beans. Rather than treating it as a waste product, McDonald's has teamed up with Ford to turn chaff into car components.
Ford discovered that it could use the dried skins to form a composite good enough for headlamp housings, interior vehicle parts, and some under the hood components. To achieve this, the chaff is heated to a high temperature under low oxygen while mixing it with plastic and additives. The resulting material is formed into pellets for use in vehicle part production.
The pellets can be molded into many different shapes that are strong and durable, but 20 percent lighter than the equivalent parts produced without coffee chaff. The production of the parts also requires 25 percent less energy, so Ford is removing a waste product from McDonald's production line and using it to create lighter vehicles while cutting its energy consumption.
Debbie Mielewski, Ford senior technical leader, sustainability and emerging materials research team, explained, "McDonald's commitment to innovation was impressive to us and matched our own forward-thinking vision and action for sustainability ... This has been a priority for Ford for over 20 years, and this is an example of jump starting the closed-loop economy, where different industries work together and exchange materials that otherwise would be side or waste products."
McDonald's is aiming to source 100 percent of its packaging from "renewable, recycled or certified sources" by 2025 and will continue to work with Ford. Maybe that packaging can also be recycled again to form other car parts?
Ford will convert the coffee chaff into a durable material that's 20 percent lighter and uses 25 percent less energy to mold into usable vehicle parts.
Our demand for freshly roasted coffee every day produces millions of pounds of coffee chaff, the dried skin that surrounds coffee beans. Rather than treating it as a waste product, McDonald's has teamed up with Ford to turn chaff into car components.
Ford discovered that it could use the dried skins to form a composite good enough for headlamp housings, interior vehicle parts, and some under the hood components. To achieve this, the chaff is heated to a high temperature under low oxygen while mixing it with plastic and additives. The resulting material is formed into pellets for use in vehicle part production.
The pellets can be molded into many different shapes that are strong and durable, but 20 percent lighter than the equivalent parts produced without coffee chaff. The production of the parts also requires 25 percent less energy, so Ford is removing a waste product from McDonald's production line and using it to create lighter vehicles while cutting its energy consumption.
Debbie Mielewski, Ford senior technical leader, sustainability and emerging materials research team, explained, "McDonald's commitment to innovation was impressive to us and matched our own forward-thinking vision and action for sustainability ... This has been a priority for Ford for over 20 years, and this is an example of jump starting the closed-loop economy, where different industries work together and exchange materials that otherwise would be side or waste products."
McDonald's is aiming to source 100 percent of its packaging from "renewable, recycled or certified sources" by 2025 and will continue to work with Ford. Maybe that packaging can also be recycled again to form other car parts?
