Kaffe Bueno to build a coffee grounds biorefinery

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Type of post: NEWS.

Kaffe Bueno is a Danish company specialized in using green chemistry, deep-tech and biotechnology to break down coffee grounds into their composing molecules, and using these to produce high-performing ingredients for several industries: personal care, nutraceuticals and functional foods and beverages.

Figure 1. One of the extracts made from coffee grounds by Kaffe Bueno (taken from the website of the company)

Coffe is amongst the most consumed beverages worldwide (2 billion cups consumed daily). Coffee beans are composed by lipids, phenolics, antioxidants, proteins, fibres, healthy sugars and other health-promoting compounds. About 60-70% of coffee grounds end up in a landfill, a large portion is incinerated for energy production, and a very small percentage is recycled into briquettes and pellets, mushroom growing, or fertilisers.

Kaffe Bueno was established in 2016 by three Colombian entrepreneurs (Juan Medina, Alejandro Franco and Camilo Fernandez). For the last 5 years, it has been researching and developing processes to further break down coffee grounds into its composing molecules to develop health-promoting ingredients. Moreover, it has identified and filed two patents for key applications within cosmetics and nutraceuticals. Now, the European Innovation Council has awarded a 2.5 M€ grant for Kaffe Bueno through their EIC Accelerator program. Kaffe Bueno will use the grant to advance its product pipeline and build Europe’s first coffee biorefinery in Denmark. It will be the first company worldwide to utilise 100% of coffee’s bean biomass.

Kaffoil (the lipid fraction of coffee) is one of Kaffe Bueno's active ingredients derived from coffee grounds, which serves as a resource for the personal care and food industries. It is globally distributed by ingredients' market-leader Givaudan since 2020. This product was the first result of 3 years of R&D by Kaffe Bueno and has vast scientifically proven benefits for the skin (better-ageing, UV protection, wound healing, and moisturizing).

The defatted grounds are further processed to produce the first coffee-grounds-derived upcycled fibre (traded as Kaffibre) for the food and personal care industries.

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