Materials Upcycled
Materials Upcycled coffee gives endless possibility Spent coffee grounds, renewed and upcycled for reuse, are a sustainable, versatile raw material with effective application in bioplastics. A company called bio-bean, based in Cambridgeshire, UK, is diverting spent coffee grounds from conventional disposal methods and upcycling them on an industrial scale for reuse as Inficaf – a sustainable, bulk raw material for third-party product design and development. By doing so they’re reducing waste and subsequent greenhouse gas emissions, and driving behaviour change, helping the world to rethink waste. Coffee was wasteful Coffee is the most popular beverage in the world. It’s a drink that transcends all boundaries, bringing the world’s morning warriors and late-night labourers together in a ritual daily sigh of caffeinated relief. The world drinks approximately 2.5 billion cups of coffee every day, creating an estimated 18 million tonnes of spent coffee grounds every year. Typically, those spent coffee grounds are sent to landfill or anaerobic digestion, neither of which make use of the residual value within this largely untapped resource. But what if, instead, those grounds could displace petroleum-based raw materials or expensive biopolymers in plastic compounds? Well, they can. Bio-bean manufactures Inficaf from spent coffee grounds collected from UK businesses at every scale, including coffee shops, office blocks, airports, and instant coffee manufacturers. Spent coffee grounds are a naturally clean feedstock, segregated at source by baristas and bean-tocup machines. When the grounds arrive at bio-bean’s facility in Cambridgeshire, the team processes and dries them to requirement before sieving and packing them up for thirdparty commercial and industrial applications. Spent coffee grounds are an effective sustainable filler One such application is in bioplastics. Inficaf can be incorporated into a range of bioplastics from PLAs to PBATs and beyond at up to 30 %. It offers compounders an alternative source of upcycled, biodegradable material that sits well within a range of biopolymer matrices. The obvious environmental benefit is in the displacement of virgin or synthetic raw materials and fillers with an upcycled, biobased material in plentiful supply. Additionally, by using Inficaf, bio-bean’s customers can save up to 1,030 kg CO 2 e per tonne of Inficaf used (depending on the material being displaced). That’s a 17x saving compared to the spent grounds being disposed of via anaerobic digestion (the standard disposal method for spent coffee). An additional benefit of Inficaf is light-weighting. Spent coffee grounds weigh less than typical fillers used across the plastics and bioplastics industry and therefore reduce the density of a product – an increasingly key attribute, particularly in the mobility sector. And if you need visible queues of recycled composition, that’s easily achievable with fleck effects. Inficaf is consistent in particle size, moisture content, and bulk density. It has a stable, long shelf life at ambient temperatures, it distributes well within polymers, and it’s easily manageable within standard processing methods. Inficaf is a versatile, predictable, and reliable material made from a previously underestimated and underutilised resource. It’s already been used to create reusable cups, signage, bottle caps, furniture, and more. The possibilities for bioplastics made with spent coffee grounds are great. What will you make with Inficaf? MT www.bio-bean.com 50 bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/23] Vol. 18
10-11 Oct 2023 Atlanta, GA, USA organized by Call for papers now open! Platinum Sponsor Gold Sponsor Co-organized by Supported by PHA (Poly-Hydroxy-Alkanoates) is a family of biobased polyesters. Examples of such polyhydroxyalkanoates are PHB, PHV, PHBV, PHBH, and many more. That’s why we speak about the PHA platform. Depending on the type of PHA, they can be used for applications in films and rigid packaging, biomedical applications, automotive, consumer electronics, appliances, toys, glues, adhesives, paints, coatings, fibres for woven and non-woven, and inks. So PHAs cover a broad range of properties and applications. Also depending on the type, most PHAs are biodegradable in a wide range of environments, such as industrial and home composting, anaerobic digestion (AD), in soil, fresh- and even seawater. After the successful first two PHA platform World Congresses in Germany, this unique event is now coming to the USA. 10-11 October 2023 in Atlanta, GA / USA (subject to changes) www.pha-world-congress.com bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/23] Vol. 18 51
