Driving Innovation in Agriculture through Advanced Recycling of Organic Waste with ERS Technology

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On April 24, 2025, JET launched a collaborative research project with Deakin University in Australia under the “Recycling of Marine, Food, and Agricultural Waste” initiative. In this phase, we conducted experiments to transform coffee grounds—commonly used as fuel—into valuable agricultural and livestock resources using our ERS technology.

The Challenge

Coffee grounds, known for their porous structure, have traditionally been difficult to recycle effectively. Uniform drying is hard to achieve, fermentation can be unstable—often leading to over-fermentation or spoilage—and long heating periods drive up both energy costs and environmental burdens.

Our Approach with ERS

By leveraging ERS’s rapid fermentation and drying capabilities, even porous coffee grounds can be treated quickly and evenly, resulting in high-quality, “over-dried” material. We provided this material to both vegetable and livestock farmers to verify its functionality.

Promising Outcomes

When used as fertilizer, treated coffee grounds improved tomato texture and sweetness, enhanced soil nutrient balance, and shortened growth periods compared to conventional organic fertilizers. Additionally, compounds derived from coffee grounds demonstrated the ability to suppress germination of certain weeds, suggesting potential as a natural herbicide.

Next Steps: Feed Development

Looking ahead, we are exploring the development of high-quality livestock feed by combining treated coffee grounds with walnuts—an approach that may help reduce methane emissions (burps) from cattle and contribute to sustainability in animal husbandry.

This project is being carried out in collaboration with Deakin University’s REACH (Recycling & Clean Energy Commercialisation Hub) at the Waurn Ponds campus, and supported by grants from the Australian Government’s Trailblazer Universities Program and the State of Victoria.

By turning organic waste into valuable, sustainable resources, our ERS technology not only reduces environmental impact, but also broadens opportunities in the circular economy across agriculture, livestock, and aquaculture. Please stay tuned for further developments!