我們可以想象一下，人們每天會煮多少壺咖啡，又會有多少咖啡殘渣倒進下水道！這些殘渣能否用來儲存甲烷中的碳元素呢？這樣會不會就可以終止“燃燒時代”了？如果真是這樣，那么，將來我們就可以將咖啡殘渣、茶葉渣或酒糟用作碳的存儲體了。
在英國物理協會出版社（IOP）2015年9月出版的《納米技術》雜志中有一篇文章寫到，韓國蔚山國家科學技術研究所(UNIST)的科研人員發明了一種可以將咖啡殘渣轉化成碳存儲體的新技術。
當然，研究人員必須利用最好的咖啡殘渣進行分析研究，他們將100%純度的哥倫比亞咖啡豆進行深度烘焙和精細研磨，從而探尋一種簡單、廉價地存儲大氣中甲烷的方法。
將咖啡殘渣浸泡在氫氧化鉀溶液中，加熱至65攝氏度（149華氏度）并攪拌24小時，然后將混合物烘干。
按文章中所述，先將混合物放在100攝氏度（212華氏度）的烘箱中干燥，再放置于700-900攝氏度的氬氣熔爐中激活其對碳的儲存能力。以上便是文章中記載的方法。
不到一天的時間，我們就可生產出性質穩定的能夠對碳進行儲存的物質，科研人員稱，他們制作的這種材料與制作其他類型的碳儲存載體相比，用時更短。
韓國蔚山國家科學技術研究所(UNIST)的元老級研究員Christian Kemp說，“與金屬和價格昂貴且必需的有機化學品相比，咖啡渣這種廢棄的原料是免費的，我認為這是一種簡單且長遠的方法?！?/span>
其實，在Kemp盯著杯子里的咖啡殘渣出神的時候，他突然找到了靈感，才想到了這一方法?！拔覀冋谝黄鸷瓤Х?，我看著咖啡殘渣，想到‘我們是否可以用這個來儲存甲烷呢？’”
當咖啡殘渣將甲烷捕集和儲存之后，它可被當作一種能源來使用。根據目前的初步預測，我們可以實現在工業上對它進行利用。
另外一種物質，茶葉渣的用處可能并不多，對茶葉渣的研究就像阿拉斯加海底的北極開發工程這個典型的例子。
9月28日，荷蘭皇家殼牌公司確認，該公司已經放棄對阿拉斯加楚科奇海的Burger Jwildcat油田的勘探開發。
殼牌公司在北極開發工程中投資了70億美元，雖然也開發出了一些石油和天然氣，但產量甚少，事實證明，Burger已經沒有繼續開發的價值了。
還有一個案例就是令人失望的Beaufort海域的Mukluk1井。這個井可以說是眾所周知了，1984年1月20日，以BP公司為首的石油公司最終封堵并終止了對Mukluk油井的開發計劃。當時人們認為這個工程的風險很小，結果卻證明，Mukluk油井曾是史上耗資最多(4.3億美元)的一口無油井。
但是，就像Burger Jwildcat油田一樣，即使地震圖像看起來再好，也不一定就沒有風險。在油氣行業里有一條基本原則——公司只有鉆井以后，才能知道到真實情況究竟如何。
這也印證了我們上文所述的對茶葉渣的研究，雖然經過了大量繁瑣的實驗，但是我們最后卻發現其在存儲甲烷方面用處并不大，令人欣慰的是，我們確定了咖啡殘渣在儲存甲烷方面的潛力。雖然這項技術在理論上是可行的，但是暫時還沒有進行現場應用，我們也期待將來能看到咖啡殘渣在環保方面所做的貢獻。
Imagine how many pots of coffee are brewed each day and the incredible amounts of coffee grounds that are tossed in the trash. What if those coffee grounds could be used for methane carbon storage instead? Would that be the end of flaring as we know it? That’s when you could use a good fortune teller to divine the future of carbon storage from reading coffee grounds, tea leaves or wine sediments.
Researchers at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea have found a way to modify used coffee grounds into a carbon-capture material, according to an article in the September 2015 journal Nanotechnology from IOP Publishing. Of course, the researchers had to use the best coffee grounds—100% Colombian coffee, dark roast, fine ground—to devise a simple, inexpensive method for removing methane from the atmosphere.
The coffee grounds were steeped in a solution of potassium hydroxide, heated to 65 C (149 F) and stirred for 24 hours. The mixture was then dried.
This concoction was then dried in an oven at 100 C (212 F) before finally being subjected to temperatures of 700 C to 900 C (1,290 F to 1,650 F) in an argon-atmosphere furnace to activate its carbon-capture properties, according to the article.
This resulted in the production of a stable carbon-capture material in under a day, which the researchers claim is much quicker than the time taken for the production of other carbon-capture materials. Christian Kemp, who was an original researcher on the work at the UNIST, said, “The waste material is free compared to all the metals and expensive organic chemicals needed in other processes—in my opinion this is a far easier way to go.”
It all started with Kemp staring at the coffee grounds in his cup. “We were sitting around drinking coffee and I looked at the coffee grounds and thought ‘I wonder if we can use this for methane storage?’”
After capturing and storing methane, the coffee grounds could then be used as a fuel. Now that’s a prediction the industry could use.
Another area where reading tea leaves isn’t always helpful is in exploration. Just ask operators about Arctic exploration offshore Alaska.
On Sept. 28 Royal Dutch Shell confi rmed the Burger Jwildcat in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea was being plugged and abandoned.
After investing some $7 billion in Arctic exploration, Shell came up with some oil and gas shows but nothing that would warrant further exploration in the Burger prospect.
All that activity raises the specter of Mukluk 1 in the Beaufort Sea. This may sound familiar. The Mukluk well was plugged and abandoned by a BP-led consortium on Jan. 20, 1984. At that time, it was the most expensive dry hole ever drilled—$430 million. It was considered a low-risk development.
But, just like the Burger J, even the best looking seismic doesn’t always end up being low-risk. That’s still one of the basic tenets of the industry—a company doesn’t know what it has until it drills the well.
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