The United States alone generates approximately 300 million tons of wood waste annually, with an estimated 12 million tons ending up in landfills. European countries (and Switzerland) produce around 60 million tons of wood waste every year. Moreover, roughly one-third of the world's food is wasted.
CONCR3DE has developed a groundbreaking printing process that offers a solution to these environmental challenges. By upcycling biomass materials, the combination of our 3D printer hardware, Bio Binder and 100% Bio Resin allows you to create new, valuable products. This enables the upcycling of wood (sawdust, wood chips, bark, tree branches, unused portions of timber), agricultural residues (corn stover, wheat straw, rie husks from cereal crops, bagasse from sugarcane processing), and food waste (vegetable and fruit peels, seeds, food scraps).
3D Printing Wood
Traditional wood processing results in waste, such as sawdust. CONCR3DE now enables upcycling this sawdust in a waste-free process. Using its unique biodegradable Bio Binder, the sawdust is used to create high-quality wood composites that maintain the natural texture of wood. In order to be used as a printing powder, any wood waste is firstly reduced to 1 to 2 cm large chips. A milling and sieving system refines the chips into fine powder with the precise granulometry required for printing with Armadillo Green. After additives have been added, the material is ready to be loaded in the printer. CONCR3DE’s Bio Binder is an environmentally friendly binder that is food safe and fully biodegradable, as it can be dissolved in water. By using a naturally occurring polymer, our Bio Binder enables printing any powder-based biomaterial with our Armadillo Green. The resulting material exhibits mechanical properties similar to the most used woods, is 100% bio-based and fully compostable, depending on application.
Benefits of 3D printing wood
3D Printing wood offers many advantages compared to traditional wood milling:
- Full freedom of design, enabling the creation of complex, organic shapes, and intricate designs;
- Lower material use due to the benefits of the waste-free binder jetting additive manufacturing process;
- Significantly shorter lead and production times, which in turn shorten delivery times;
- Unprecedented process control, resulting in both repeatability (consistent accuracy) and flexibility (personalization options).
After 3D printing, the part is infiltrated with our 100% Bio Resin, which is fully bio-based and compostable as well, and then polished or varnished/lacquered.
Applications of 3D printing wood
Given the scalability of CONCR3DE's binder jetting technology, the options to upcycle sawdust into value are not limited by final product size. This offers a range of potential applications.
- Furniture: create customized furniture pieces with unique designs and textures.
- Interior design: design and print intricate interior elements, such as wall panels, decorative objects, and architectural components.
- Automotive and marine: produce components for vehicles, boats, and other transportation modes.
- Consumer products: manufacture a wide range of consumer products, from packaging to toys, using bio-based materials.
- Construction: print building components, such as bricks, tiles, and structural elements, using sustainable materials.
Our innovative approach enables the creation of a wide range of products, from furniture and interior design, like the door knob in the picture below, to automotive components and construction materials. Among the potential application examples, we also would like to show these stylish and futuristic sunglasses designed by Marvel Labs, demonstrating the infinite array of amazing objects that can be achieved with waste using Armadillo Green.
Armadillo Green is a revolutionizing 3D printer that offers a solution to waste management by upcycling biomass materials. Its recycling power does not limit to this, as, like all of our 3D printers, it lets you recycle any unused powder to be used for the next print run.
CONCR3DE’s approach on biomass is truly groundbreaking, as it enables to create products with incredible designs, while reducing the environmental impact. Furthermore, the resulting products are fully bio-based and compostable, further contributing to a circular economy. Our technology allows you to take the ashes of the past and 3D print the future!
Would you like to know more? Contact our team today!