A key challenge for society is the development of renewable energy sources. The 2007 U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) mandated a thirty-six billion gallon switch from fossil fuels to biofuels by 2022, with twenty-one billion gallons being derived from non-corn sources. Our work involves total utilization of renewable material (algae) and waste material (spent coffee ground) through the use of a two‐step process. The first step is removal of oil that can be converted to biodiesel, while the second step involves conversion of the remaining defatted material and other waste fatty material (soapstock) into bio‐oil using pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction. The bio‐oils are then characterized using various analytical techniques to explain the influence of feedstocks and processes on bio‐oil yields and composition. It was determined that the presence of higher oxygen and nitrogen in feedstocks results in more O and N-containing compounds in bio-oils, thereby causing lower heating values. Pyrolysis conversion has also been demonstrated for conversion of waste plastics in municipal solid waste to plastic crude oils (75-80%), which on distillation provides approximately 20% gasoline, 60% diesel and 20% vacuum gas oil. The diesel fraction as such and its blend with petroleum ULSD met most of the ASTM specifications.
