Sydney, Australia, Aug 23 (EFE).- A group of Australian engineers have used roasted coffee grounds to produce 30 percent stronger concrete, according to a study published Wednesday.
The study, published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, says that this blend will help reduce the amount of organic waste going to landfills, RMIT University in Melbourne said in a statement.
“The inspiration for our work was to find an innovative way of using the large amounts of coffee waste in construction projects rather than going to landfills – to give coffee a ‘double shot’ at life,” lead author and RMIT researcher Rajeev Roychand said.
To do this, Roychand and his team of engineers converted coffee grounds into biochar through pyrolysis, a low-energy process that involves heating organic waste without oxygen at a temperature of 350 degrees.
The researchers also believe that the use of this biochar will help replace a portion of the 50 billion tonnes of natural sand that is extracted annually by the construction industry from riverbeds and riverbanks to make concrete.
“There are critical and long-lasting challenges in maintaining a sustainable supply of sand due to the finite nature of resources and the environmental impacts of sand mining,” author and research team leader, Jie Li, said.
The researchers believe that this study, which is in its initial stage, will contribute to the fight against the climate crisis, particularly against the emission of polluting gases derived from the 10,000 million kilograms of ground coffee waste generated annually on the planet.
“The disposal of organic waste poses an environmental challenge as it emits large amounts of greenhouse gases including methane and carbon dioxide, which contribute to climate change,” Roychand added. EFE.
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