Coffee is a beverage that millions of people around the globe enjoy on a daily basis. Although coffee consumption is becoming increasingly popular, the cultivation of coffee is under threat of: climate change, economic inequality in the coffee value chain, and unsustainable coffee cultivation and processing. Studies predict that all land currently used for the cultivation of Arabica coffee might become unusable by 2080 because of the sensitivity of the crop to changes in temperature, humidity, and the amount of UV irradiation. A shift is needed in the coffee value chain to ensure the livelihood of the current 25 million smallholder coffee farmers responsible for 70 to 80\% of coffee production worldwide. The Climate Smart Coffee Program in the state of Kerala in India focuses on making coffee cultivation and processing more resilient, sustainable, and economical in the future. This is accomplished by conducting research on more sustainable agriculture (such as agroforestry to preserve and nurture valuable land) and reduce carbon emissions and waste generation during the processing of coffee.

The focus of this study is on the use of biomass residues produced during the processing of coffee to meet the energy needs of coffee processing units in the Wayanad district in Kerala. The goal is to make the processing of coffee less carbon-intensive, produce less waste, improve the quality of the coffee, and make coffee processing less energy dependent. This study presents a technoeconomic analysis for a novel approach to the use of these coffee processing mill residues (CPMRs) by using a combination of gasification to produce syngas, a solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) to transform the syngas into electricity and heat, and the use of an afterburner to further optimize the energy efficiency of the biomass plant. The biomass plant's goal is to replace the current energy need of the processing units: electricity from the grid and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

The results of the technoeconomic model show that the biomass plant produces enough electricity and heat to cover the energy needs of the coffee processing unit that supplies the biomass material. With an hourly feed rate of 1295 kilograms of biomass material the plant produced 2,681 kW of electricity with an electrical efficiency of 41\% and an overall system efficiency of 62\%. The financial analysis of the biomass plant yielded a capital expenditure of \$ 24.1 million, or 8,984 \$ per kWh of electricity generated. The levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of the plant was 0.45 \$/kWh. A sensitivity analysis revealed that by optimizing the operating conditions of the biomass conversion plant, the LCOE could be decreased to 0.35 \$/kWh. Improving the capacity factor would have the most substantial effect on the costs of the system, increasing the days of operation from 90 in the base model to 300 could result in an LCOE as low as 0.12 \$/kWh.