RMIT University’s coffee concrete innovators have won an award for their work in reducing landfill waste and improving concrete strength
An RMIT research project into strengthening concrete through the edition of coffee grounds has won an award.
RMIT University’s Dr Rajeev Roychand, Professor Jie Li, Associate Professor Shannon Kilmartin-Lynch, Dr Mohammad Saberian, Professor Guomin (Kevin) Zhang and Professor Chun Qing Li’s work that also aimed to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill from commercial coffee operations was the People’s Choice Winner at the Shaping Australia Awards.
The coffee addition was found to strengthen concrete by 30 per cent using biochar, which can replace a portion of the sand that is used to make concrete. Roychand and Li received the Problem Solver 2024 People’s Choice Winner award on behalf of the team at Parliament House in Canberra.
This invention tackles major sustainability challenges. Australia generates around 75,000 tonnes of ground coffee waste annually, contributing to 6.87 million tonnes of organic waste in landfills, which account for 3 per cent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.
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Roychand, the lead inventor of the coffee concrete, says the team was thrilled to win the award.
“Winning this national award is outstanding recognition of our vision to transform waste materials into valuable construction resources,” he says.
“What began as research into coffee grounds has now evolved into a comprehensive program converting various types of organic waste into biochar that could help reshape the environmental footprint of the built environment.”
Within a year, the team progressed from the lab to real-world applications with industry and government partners, including a world-first footpath trial in Gisborne, Victoria, and current use in Victoria’s Big Build projects.
Li says their research advanced sustainable construction, enabling the transformation of diverse organic waste streams into high-performance construction materials.
“This Australian-led innovation demonstrates how we can pioneer solutions for global environmental challenges,” he says.
RMIT is engaged with a commercialisation partner to translate the team’s innovation into a commercial reality.
The partner is in the process of building the business case with key stakeholders and supply chain partners in the construction and agriculture sectors that would potentially benefit from using biochar products or play critical roles in bringing the technology to market.