For the most esoteric, the only application coffee grounds This will be a fortune telling for the person who drank from the cup. Skeptics will think that at best they serve to clean out the pipes, although in fact this is a myth, and throwing them down the drain is not the best idea. Therefore, it is normal that they just end up in landfills. This means throwing out a lot of greenhouse gasesso it is worth looking for a way to process them. For example, such an original thing as making concrete.
It was discovered last year by a group of Australian scientists. In their research, they tried to process coffee grounds and mix them with other ingredients of concrete. They were convinced that in this way the result 30% more stableSomething important for a substance used to construct buildings.
This discovery has many advantages, as it not only serves recycle coffee grounds. It also helps reduce the amount of sand used in making concrete. Collecting it on beaches causes severe erosion, which can be very harmful to both the landscape and the ecosystem. Without a doubt, this use of coffee grounds is much better than guesswork. At least it is closer to guaranteeing us a promising future.
Why is it important to recycle coffee grounds?
It is estimated that every year 10,000 million kilograms of coffee groundsWe often think that because it is food, it is biodegradable. However, while it remains in a landfill, it releases large amounts of methane. This may be a less demonized greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, but its impact on the atmosphere is even worse.
Therefore, it is important to reduce the amount of coffee grounds thrown into the trash or drain. There can be many ways; but if this is decided in the process another environmental problembetter than better.
Specific problem
Concrete consists of 1 part cement, 2 parts sand and 3 parts gravel. bring to the desired consistency with water. It is calculated that to cover one square meter of surface it will take 20 kg of cement, 40 kg of sand and 60 kg of gravel.. So, to cover 100 square meters of the house, you will need 4 tons of sand.
Considering that it is not just a surface coating that is being discussed, and that there are many houses much larger than this, the amount of sand needed in the construction industry each year is simply staggering. Although it may seem like sand is not an unlimited resource. It is a shelter for many animals and a support for many plants. On the beach, it helps to moderate the force of the waves so that they do not cause destruction on the shore and, in addition, prevents sediment from accumulating on the shore. It has so many benefits that many countries fine or even imprison tourists who try to take sand from their beaches as a souvenir. So reducing the amount of sand used in concrete is a priority.
Coffee grounds to the rescue
These scientists wanted to see what would happen if they replaced sand with coffee grounds. They knew they couldn’t use them directly because they contained chemicals that could affect the strength of concrete. So before they made the mixture, they subjected the coffee grounds to a process known as pyrolysiswhich consists of heating them up to 350 ºC in conditions of oxygen starvation.
The result is porous carboncalled biochar, which can form very strong bonds that help make the cement matrix more stable. They also tried the same process at 500°C, but the particles were no longer as strong.
Diapers are also useful for improving concrete.
Last year, a group of Japanese scientists tried to use another very common waste to make concrete. In this case, they used used diapers, properly washed, disinfected and crushed. The resulting mass could replace sand in concrete in different proportions, depending on the design of the buildings in which it was used. In general, it turned out very durable and useful.
True, none of these options have been used on a large scale yet. But it wouldn’t be strange if sooner or later we started to like houses built from used diapers or coffee grounds. Who was going to tell us that the future would be like this?
Source: Hiper Textual
