Every day, humanity drinks over two billion cups kafe. It produces about 15 million tons of sediment annually globally. We throw the rest of the coffee, mostly without thinking too much, into the trash can, from where it goes into containers, from where it travels to landfills, from where it emits methane - a gas that warms our planet.
But that doesn't have to be the fate of coffee waste, writes the klima101 portal. Scientists in South Korea have transformed coffee grounds into an eco-friendly, high-performance insulation material, providing an alternative to the petroleum-based products that are widely found in our walls and packaging.
How does waste become a shield against the cold?
Researchers have developed a biodegradable material by combining used coffee grounds and natural polymers. In order for ordinary sediment to become an insulator, it was transformed into so-called biochar (biochar).
Biochar is a stable form of carbon obtained by pyrolysis - heating organic waste, such as coffee grounds, at high temperatures in controlled conditions without the presence of oxygen. Unlike ordinary combustion, which releases harmful gases, this controlled process "locks" the carbon into a solid, porous structure, transforming the soft coffee grounds into an extremely resistant, porous and light material with excellent thermal insulation properties.
It is the porous structure of the material that is the key to retaining heat – tiny pores trap air, which is naturally a poor conductor of heat, thus creating a barrier that maintains the temperature inside the rooms. The result is a material that can directly compete with commercial styrofoam in terms of efficiency, but without harmful effects on nature.
In other words, thanks to the specially treated coffee grounds, the house can be insulated and its energy efficiency improved.
High value material
"Although coffee waste is produced in huge quantities in the world, it mostly ends up in landfills or incinerators," explained one of the authors of the study, Seong Jun Kim from South Korea's Jeonbuk National University. "Our work shows that this abundant waste stream can be turned into a high-value material that rivals commercial insulation, but is far more sustainable."
The study was published in a leading specialized journal Biochar which publishes innovative research on biochar production and applications in agriculture, environmental protection and materials science, promoting global sustainability.
Thermal insulation materials are not only used to reduce energy bills in residential buildings, but also in the transportation system and the food industry.
However, today, materials such as Styrofoam are mostly used, which are produced by the processing of fossil fuels and consequently - both during production and during disposal - pollute the environment.
An innovative solution from South Korea offers another, more sustainable way: thermal insulation from coffee grounds is made entirely from renewable resources and does not contain toxic and dangerous substances. Its biodegradability was also confirmed in laboratory tests.
Model house with solar power plant
The potential applications are wide, and a team of researchers demonstrated the possibility of using the new biodegradable thermal insulation in a model house with a solar power plant. The material effectively reduced the transfer of heat from the solar panels, bringing double benefits: temperature regulation in the building itself and support for the renewable energy system.
"This approach not only improves the performance of materials, but also contributes to the circular economy," added Seong Jun Kim. "By turning waste into a useful product, we can reduce environmental problems, creating new opportunities for sustainable materials."
Scientists from South Korea are not the only ones who have researched and pointed out alternative ways of using coffee waste.
Thus, a team of engineers from Australia discovered that adding coffee grounds to concrete could strengthen the building material by 30 percent, English researchers made biodiesel from it, and it turned out that it can also purify water very successfully.
Although many of these ideas are still in their infancy, coffee grounds are already being used for textile production and dyeing in the fashion industry.
Coffee grounds are also a great garden food or compost addition.
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