TRENDS IN VALORISATION OF SPENT COFFEE GROUNDS: A REVIEW

Abstract

Coffee is nowadays one of the most appreciated and also consumed beverage. Its consumption presents
many benefits for humans, but has also a great inconvenience because of the major quantities of waste resulted in the
brewing process, which is not further exploited and reaches the environment with a significant negative impact. This
residue is represented by spent coffee grounds (SCG). Due to its chemical composition, SCG represents a good source of
some useful active compounds, which can be exploited for obtaining high-value products. This paper overviews aspects
regarding the coffee world production, consumption and total quantities of residues resulted from coffee industry,
pointing out the possibilities of SCG valorisation. Thus, it reviews the most important researches regarding SCG potential
use in different domains, such as energy, agriculture, food and health, material construction and wastewaters treatment.