Spent Coffee Grounds Activated Carbon for Herbicide Removal

The economic backdrop strengthens the case. US producer prices for industrial inputs have risen to 287.928 in August 2026 from 256.978 in April 2024, underscoring a higher-cost environment for treatment chemicals, media and equipment. Industrial production, meanwhile, has only gradually climbed back above its pre-pandemic level, suggesting capital spending remains measured rather than aggressive. In that setting, technologies that can reduce lifecycle cost while using waste streams as feedstock are likely to attract interest from water utilities, engineering firms and wastewater contractors.

That is where the market implication lies for companies such as Zurn Elkay Water Solutions and Select Water Solutions, both of which operate in parts of the water infrastructure chain where efficiency, compliance and replacement demand matter. Zurn’s shares have hovered around the high-$40s to low-$50s and recently traded near $46.65, below the 50-day moving average, while Select Water has held closer to $19.84 after a strong run earlier in the summer. Neither company is a pure-play on coffee-ground carbon, but both would benefit if low-cost adsorbent systems accelerate capital spending on treatment retrofits, monitoring and media replacement.

For investors, the story is less about a single pilot column than about the direction of spending in water treatment. A scalable process that turns spent coffee grounds into activated carbon could lower barriers to entry for smaller utilities and private operators that have deferred upgrades because of cost. It also fits a broader policy and industrial trend: regulators are pushing for cleaner water and lower waste, while end users are under pressure to make sustainability projects pay for themselves.

The bull case is that the technology can be scaled with acceptable regeneration rates, consistent adsorption performance and economics that beat conventional activated carbon on a delivered basis. The bear case is that ZnCl 2 activation, feedstock variability and column performance at real-world flow rates can erase the cost advantage once the process moves from bench-scale to plant-scale. The investment question is whether this becomes a niche sustainability project or a repeatable procurement category for utilities.

If the scale-up assumptions hold, spent coffee grounds could become more than a waste-management curiosity: they could help define a cheaper route to contaminant removal in a market where utilities increasingly need compliance solutions that do not blow out operating budgets.