Used coffee grounds were charred at 350 degrees Celsius until they became a charcoal-like biochar. That material replaced 15 percent of the sand by volume in a concrete mix (scienceblog.com)

submitted 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) by inari@piefed.zip to c/environment@sh.itjust.works

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[-] Creat@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 12 hours ago

While it's nice to use a bit less sand, charring at 350°C doesn't sound like negligible energy usage. Especially if done with fossils. Always good to have options, I guess?

[-] Aeao@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago

Last I heard we are running out of sand to use in concrete so it might not be an environmental thing just a cost. Like they can’t just use any ol’ sand. Beach sand is too smooth or something so it has to be river sand I believe.

[-] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 hours ago

Other way around. Beach sand is new and this rough. A surprising amount of it is parrotfish poo, chewed up coral. River sand, and desert sand, is weathered and smooth.

I've seen a machine for pulverizing glass bottles into basically sand. Smooth desert sand > glass packaging, used for food, glass packaging > concrete aggregate?

this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2026

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Environment

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Environment:

The totality of the natural world, often excluding humans.

A subset of the natural world; an ecosystem.

The combination of external physical conditions that affect and influence the growth, development, behavior, and survival of organisms.

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