For anyone who came here without reading the article to comment about the impending effects of climate change on coffee yields, do note that this proposes using spent (i.e. already used) coffee grounds. SCG currently end up in landfills and eventually get turned into carbon dioxide and methane.
The article they link about pyrolysis is worth a read too. The main source of CO2 emissions from cement production is cooking down limestone into lime IIRC. I was curious how much energy is used to turn the biomass into the end product and what waste is generated. It's a bit too detailed for me to understand, but the process ends up with 15-25% biochar (the stuff they're promoting in this article), some potentially useful byproducts, and some regular combustion pollution.
I guess this means I'll need yet another, different colored wastebin just for coffee now. I mean I'll do it if it helps, but I can only fit so many receptacles in my kitchen. Meh, I'll just put the rest in the twins' room.
I worked on some undergrad research examining the potential to use spent coffee grounds for biodiesel. SCG has residual oil that can be extracted and refined. I wonder if this could be combined with biochar, getting multiple commodities from a waste product.
I'm glad to see research into this. Sand for concrete is a specific type of sand (nice and bumpy so it likes to lock together like a jigsaw puzzle) and people get killed by what are basically sand cartels. This was the "legitimate" mob business in the last season of Barry.
Portland cement is about 2/5 sand, so we'll need to start drinking more coffee! I was glad to see they're testing other organic matter since coffee is very susceptible to climate change, ironically caused in a large part by cement production. Unless you believe the reader comment on the article begging people to realize climate change is a hoax...
Quick point of clarification - concrete is about 40% sand. PortlandPortland cement is one of the other parts of concrete - it’s what actually holds concrete together. Other pozzolons, like fly ash, can make up 25-50% of the cementitious material.
FWIW, Cement is wildly energy intensive to create and produces a huge amount of CO2. We don’t have a lot of replacement options for cement (or concrete generally) because of its unique durability.