Coffee wastes as sustainable flame retardants for polymer materials

Abstract

Development of green flame retardants has become a core part of the attention of material scientists and technologists in a paradigm shift from general purpose to specific sustainable products. This work is the first report on the use of coffee biowastes as sustainable flame retardants for epoxy, as a typical highly flammable polymer. We used spent coffee grounds (SCG) as well as SCG chemically modified with phosphorus (P-SCG) to develop a sustainable highly efficient flame retardant. A considerable reduction in the peak of heat release rate (pHRR) by 40% was observed in the pyrolysis combustion flow calorimeter analysis (PCFC), which proved the merit of the used coffee biowastes for being used as sustainable flame retardants for polymers. This work would open new opportunities to investigate the impact of other sorts of coffee wastes rather than SCG from different sectors of the coffee industry on polymers of different family.