Mechanical dewatering and thermal techniques were evaluated as pre-treatment steps to reduce the water content of spent coffee ground (SCG) powders to thermal conversion. An exploratory evaluation of the fluid dynamic patterns in fluidization of wet SCG powders showed that stable fluidized regimes were achieved with powders of moisture levels under 50 %. Mechanical dewatering was effective to reduce the powder moisture content to 45 %. Adding vibration enhanced the powder feed rate in the drying bed, even for powders with moisture levels that lead to negligible cohesiveness. Using a dimensionless vibration number Gamma = 4 with different vibration amplitudes (A = 0.015 and 0.003 m) resulted in different dynamic behaviors and influenced the solids feeding rate but did not affect the mean Sauter diameter of the elutriated powder. Thermal drying at Gamma = 4 and A = 0.015 m allowed a steady and continuous operating regime for powder production. Under these vibration parameters, the optimum condition concerning moisture content (22 % w.b.) and mean particle size (0.37 mm) was predicted to occur at 70 degrees C, and U/U-mf = 6. The dry powder was thermally characterized and confirmed the feasibility of using this residue in pyrolysis and combustion processes. The parameters of the reaction kinetic model and the apparent specific heat were obtained. (C) 2020 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.