Scientists Discovered an Amazing Practical Use For Coffee Ground Waste
charred Coffee Scientists in Australia have found that soil can make concrete up to 30 percent stronger.
Smart recipes can solve multiple problems at once.
Approximately 10 billion kilograms (22 billion pounds) of coffee waste is produced annually in the world, and most of it ends up in landfills.
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“The disposal of organic waste poses an environmental problem as it emits large amounts of greenhouse gases, including methane and carbon dioxide. climate change,” explained RMIT University engineer Rajeev Roychand when the research is published in 2023.
with one Developing construction market around the worldHowever, there is also an ever-increasing demand for resource-intensive concrete, causing another set of environmental problems.
Watch the video below for a summary of the research:
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“The ongoing extraction of natural sand around the world to meet the rapidly increasing demands of the construction industry – often taken from river beds and coasts – is having a huge impact on the environment.” in question RMIT engineer Jie Li.
“There are critical and long-lasting challenges in maintaining sustainable sand supplies due to limited resources and the environmental impacts of sand mining. With a circular economy approach, we can keep organic waste out of landfills and also better protect our natural resources such as sand.”
Organic products such as coffee grounds cannot be added directly to concrete as they leach chemicals that weaken the strength of the building material.
Using low energy levels, the team heated coffee waste to over 350 °C (about 660 °F), depriving it of oxygen.
This process is called do not pyrolyze. It breaks down organic molecules, resulting in a porous, carbon-rich coal. biochar This is a substance that can form bonds and therefore incorporate itself into the cement matrix.
Roychand and his colleagues also tried pyrolyzing coffee grounds at 500 °C, but the resulting biochar particles were not as strong.
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The researchers cautioned that they still need to evaluate the long-term durability of cement products.
They are currently working to test how the hybrid coffee-cement performs under stressors such as freeze/thaw cycles, water absorption, abrasions, and more.
The team is also trying to produce biochar from other sources of organic waste, including wood, food and agriculture.
Scanning electron microscope images of the surface structures of pyrolyzed coffee grounds. (Roychand et al., Cleaner Production Magazine2023)
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“Our research is still in its early stages, but these exciting findings offer an innovative way to greatly reduce the amount of organic waste going to landfill.” in question RMIT engineer Shannon Kilmartin-Lynch.
“From an Indigenous perspective, the inspiration for my research includes Taking Care of Country, ensuring a sustainable life cycle for all materials and preventing items from going to landfill to minimize the impact on the environment.”
Their research has been published in the journal: Cleaner Production Magazine.
An earlier version of this article was published in September 2023.
