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Coffee in Your Walls? Breakthrough Converts Grounds to Insulation

Researchers at Shenyang Agricultural University have created a biochar‑based insulation material from spent coffee grounds that achieves a thermal conductivity of 0.04 W·m⁻¹·K⁻¹, comparable to expanded polystyrene. The method dries the grounds, pyrolyzes them at 700 °C to raise porosity to 71%, then employs a pore‑restoration technique using propylene glycol and ethyl cellulose to form a stable composite. Laboratory tests showed the material reduces heat transfer sixfold relative to ethyl cellulose alone and performed well in solar‑panel applications. The findings were published in the journal Biochar.