Waste Coffee Grounds Make Concrete 30% Stronger

[maximus otter]

Researchers have found that concrete can be made 30% stronger by replacing a percentage of sand with spent coffee grounds, an organic waste product produced in huge amounts that usually ends up in landfill. The method also reduces the use of natural resources like sand.

It’s estimated that, worldwide, the total amount of spent coffee grounds (SCG) produced annually is 60 million tons (54 million tonnes), making it the most abundant waste generated in coffee preparation. Traditionally, most of those coffee grounds end up in landfill.

https://newatlas.com/materials/waste-coffee-grounds-make-concrete-30-percent-stronger/

Coffee: Is there anything it can't do?

maximus otter

 

[Floyd]

Researchers have found that concrete can be made 30% stronger by replacing a percentage of sand with spent coffee grounds, an organic waste product produced in huge amounts that usually ends up in landfill. The method also reduces the use of natural resources like sand.

It’s estimated that, worldwide, the total amount of spent coffee grounds (SCG) produced annually is 60 million tons (54 million tonnes), making it the most abundant waste generated in coffee preparation. Traditionally, most of those coffee grounds end up in landfill.

https://newatlas.com/materials/waste-coffee-grounds-make-concrete-30-percent-stronger/

Coffee: Is there anything it can't do?

maximus otter

And the roads would smell great I suppose.

 

[Peripart]

Researchers have found that concrete can be made 30% stronger by replacing a percentage of sand with spent coffee grounds, an organic waste product produced in huge amounts that usually ends up in landfill. The method also reduces the use of natural resources like sand.

It’s estimated that, worldwide, the total amount of spent coffee grounds (SCG) produced annually is 60 million tons (54 million tonnes), making it the most abundant waste generated in coffee preparation. Traditionally, most of those coffee grounds end up in landfill.

https://newatlas.com/materials/waste-coffee-grounds-make-concrete-30-percent-stronger/

Coffee: Is there anything it can't do?

maximus otter

Did they discover this when trying to wash a coffee mug which had been left to congeal for a few days?

 

[AnonyJ]

Researchers have found that concrete can be made 30% stronger by replacing a percentage of sand with spent coffee grounds, an organic waste product produced in huge amounts that usually ends up in landfill. The method also reduces the use of natural resources like sand.

It’s estimated that, worldwide, the total amount of spent coffee grounds (SCG) produced annually is 60 million tons (54 million tonnes), making it the most abundant waste generated in coffee preparation. Traditionally, most of those coffee grounds end up in landfill.

https://newatlas.com/materials/waste-coffee-grounds-make-concrete-30-percent-stronger/

Coffee: Is there anything it can't do?

maximus otter

By coincidence, when doing some Internet reading about the use of rock dusts in remineralising soils for fertility and CO2 capture, several articles popped up too, about using different ingredients to make a more sustainable concrete - like rock dusts (waste products from quarries) and fly ash (incinerator wastes) and organic 'dusts' or particulates such as coffee grounds.

To me, it's fascinating - we should be re-using all we can as a species rather than going to virgin deposits of materials as an easy option.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Researchers have found that concrete can be made 30% stronger by replacing a percentage of sand with spent coffee grounds, an organic waste product produced in huge amounts that usually ends up in landfill. The method also reduces the use of natural resources like sand.

It’s estimated that, worldwide, the total amount of spent coffee grounds (SCG) produced annually is 60 million tons (54 million tonnes), making it the most abundant waste generated in coffee preparation. Traditionally, most of those coffee grounds end up in landfill.

https://newatlas.com/materials/waste-coffee-grounds-make-concrete-30-percent-stronger/

Coffee: Is there anything it can't do?

maximus otter

I'm going to hazard a guess that this is because the particles of coffee grounds, being quite small, fit neatly into the interstitial gaps between the grains of sand. I guess any other similarly finely-ground material might do, but as coffee grounds are already available in large amounts, it's the ideal candidate for recycling in this manner. Smart thinking by whoever thought of it.

 

[SummerLightning]

Walnut shells have been used in concrete to make factory floors more durable for many years. Many unexpected ingredients find their way into construction materials - like pulped Mills & Boon novels (allegedly) being used in road surfaces.

 

[Ogdred Weary]

Horse droppings used to be used the daub for wattle and daub buildings, an enterprising engineer should take a dump in the mixer to see what happens.

 

[Floyd]

Toothpaste. That's where it's at.
That stuff is indestructible.