Campus Review Vol 29. Issue 11 | November 2019 | Seite 23

industry & research
campusreview.com.au
“The biggest challenge is ensuring
the addition of spent coffee grinds does
not lead to a reduction in the strength
of the concrete, and this is the focus of
further testing and development to make
this product viable for use in real-world
applications,” he said.
ADVANCEMENT IN PROSTHETICS
Visionary ways of dealing with
environmental issues were not the only
projects featured at EnGenius. Another
invention was a “three-digit prosthetic hand
which mimics the human tendons, muscle
and bone structure”.
Bachelor of Engineering (Honours)
student Sabrina Meikle has designed a 3D
prosthetic model that provides amputees
with the “realistic feeling of a limb”.
Student Anthony Abiad worked on a project that turned coffee waste into concrete. Photo: supplied
Engineering students on show
RMIT event showcases
potentially world-changing
engineering technology.
By Wade Zaglas
W
ithout engineering, nothing
improves in the world. Through
creativity, collaboration and
determination, engineers design solutions
to current problems and even anticipate the
problems of the future.
That’s why annual events such as RMIT’s
EnGenius are so important: they showcase
what humanity can do to solve seemingly
intractable problems and make the world a
better place in which to live.
COFFEE GRINDS TO CONCRETE
Whether you use an environmentally
friendly ‘keep cup’ or the unrecyclable
takeaway cup cafes provide, the fact
remains that more than a million coffees
are consumed in Australia every day, with
the coffee grinds being sent to landfills
at ever‑increasing rates.
But a project from RMIT could see the
end of such waste, with technology to turn
the coffee grinds into concrete for office
buildings, homes and driveways already in
the pipeline.
The project was conceived by a “coffee
loving” engineering lecturer and his
students, who came up with concrete as
the novel solution. Most concrete mixes are
80 per cent sand, which the report states
is the third most used resource on the
planet. Not only are current sand supplies
struggling to keep up with demand, the
environmental impact involved in extracting
it from the ground is detrimental to
fragile ecosystems.
The group showcased a concrete mix
where 10 per cent of the sand has been
replaced by coffee grinds. They created
what they call “coffee bricks” and displayed
them at RMIT’s EnGenius event, which also
saw more than 1000 final-year engineering
students – encompassing 11 disciplines –
unveil projects and products to both the
public and industry.
Senura Kohombange and Anthony
Abiad, both Bachelor of Engineering (Civil
and Infrastructure) (Honours) students,
collaborated with Dr Srikanth Venkatesan, a
senior lecturer in the School of Engineering,
to develop the coffee bricks.
“It seems fitting then that we’re working on
this project in Melbourne, a city known for its
great coffee culture,” Kohombange said.
In 2017, the City of Melbourne's 2600
cafes alone produced about 156 tonnes of
coffee-ground waste a month.
Venkatesan said that, as a regular
cappuccino drinker, he felt compelled
to create a solution to the waste he was
creating every day.
HELPING TO WEATHER THE STORM
When Bachelor of Engineering (Civil and
Infrastructure) (Honours) student Theo
Mimoun travelled to Vietnam last year as
part of an RMIT internship, he discovered
a different global issue – witnessing the
destruction of Tropical Storm Pabuk.
The eye-opening trip was the catalyst for
him and four other engineering students
to design temporary shelters for the
thousands of families displaced from the
devastation of tropical storms each year.
Mimoun, whose project has become
a “passion” for him, says that his design is
more “substantial than other shelters on the
market [and] can be easily set up by two
people in 30 minutes".
“We told ourselves, ‘If we can build these
people a shelter, they can focus on building
a better life,’” he said.
BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS
The executive dean of the School of
Engineering, Professor Adrian Mouritz, said
RMIT was delighted to be producing the
next wave of engineers capable of tackling
real world problems.
“EnGenius takes engineering out of the
classroom and brings it to life,” he said.
“Many of these projects focus on making
our world a better place, be it more
inclusive or more sustainable.”
He also said that close links between
industry and RMIT have underpinned
research for over 130 years.
“Meaningful partnerships and events like
EnGenius provide opportunities for industry
to meet its future workforce and students to
connect with employers.” ■
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