来自University of Delaware（UD）发布了一份新的研究论文，探讨了将生物量升级为新的3D印刷材料的方法。
Funded by theNational Science Foundation Growing Convergence Research（NSF GCR）程序，该论文专注于木质素，这是制作纸产品所留下的一种废物，并证明可以通过他们声称具有类似石油的竞争力的方法来有效地将其有效地将其变成基于生物的3D印刷树脂。基于产品。
“The ability to take something like technical lignin and not only break it down and turn it into a useful product, but to do it at a cost and an environmental impact that is lower than petroleum materials is something that no one has really been able to show before,” said Thomas Epps, NSF GCR lead at UD.
重新利用3D打印的木质素
木质素是一种为植物细胞壁提供强度和刚度的化学物质，并由植物无休止地生产以保护自己免受捕食者的侵害。UD说，木质素是一种广泛可用的资源，每年在纸浆和全球厂中生产约1亿吨技术木质素废物。尽管研究人员声称他们的研究是独一无二的，但其他几所大学和3D印刷公司也在这一领域取得了进步。
2020年，来自弗莱堡大学combined lignin with cellulose calls to develop their own environmentally-friendlywood-based 3D printing material. The biosynthetic polymer has potential uses within light construction or industrial applications.
Elsewhere,MIT科学家发展了他们的own lab-grown wood cells包含木质素增强的墙壁，可以构成新的，更可持续的3D可打印生物材料的基础。尽管将来仍处于早期阶段，但该研究可能会作为3D印刷环保家具或生产合成森林来解决日益增长的全球森林砍伐危机的一种手段。
到目前为止，这一领域最显着的发展也许是桌面金属的新的Forust wood 3D printing technologylaunched midway through last year. The process upscales waste byproducts from wood, such as lignin and sawdust, to create sustainable 3D printing materials compatible with its binder jet technology.
Economically upgrading lignin
使UD研究与该地区其他研究区分开来的是它的重点是展望过程的经济学。升级木质素的主要缺点之一是许多现有过程在非常高的温度下运行，因此昂贵且难以扩展。当前的工业技术还包括与传统溶剂，温度或压力相关的安全问题，资本成本和能源消耗。
To address these challenges, the UD research team replaced methanol, a traditional solvent used in lignin deconstruction, with glycerin to enable the process to take place at a normal atmospheric pressure. Glycerin is an inexpensive ingredient typically used in liquid cosmetics, soaps and shampoos for its moisturizing benefits, but can also be used to break down lignin into its chemical building blocks, from which a broad range of bio-based products like 3D printing resins can be made.
用甘油代替甲醇提供了相同的化学功能，但在较低的蒸气压力下，消除了对封闭系统的需求。这使研究人员能够同时完成过程的反应和分离步骤，从而导致更具成本效益的系统。
According to the researchers, operating at atmospheric pressure is not only safer, but also provides a straightforward route to scale the method up from small batches to run continuously, which they say will create more material cheaper, faster, and with less manual labor.
评估经济生存能力
该方法是在一年中开发的，以确保其可重复性和一致性，在此期间，还评估了该过程的经济可行性。
The team researched data sets on which types of products the team could create with their newly-created SLS 3D printing materials and estimate their physical properties. This allowed the team to model the system to see if the materials created would be economically viable.
The models assessed technical lignin waste from various pulping processes obtained from project partnercanmetenergy在加拿大。这使他们能够考虑上游成本如何在过程中进一步影响该方法的经济学等上游成本。
According to the models, the UD’s low-pressure method could reduce the cost of producing a bio-based pressure-sensitive adhesive from softwood Kraft lignin by up to 60 percent compared to a conventional higher-pressure process. While the scientists acknowledge the cost advantage was less pronounced for other types of technical lignins used in the study, softwood Kraft lignin is one of the most commonly generated types of technical lignin by the pulp and paper industry.
The researchers’ analysis demonstrated that while yield plays a major role in plant economics, the cost to operate the new, low-pressure process was significantly lower than that of the conventional process “in all cases”, offering reduced capital costs and the generation of valuable co-products. The team also carried out a life-cycle assessment (LCA) to find out how much greenhouse gas emissions are generated by the process, the data of which can be used in the future to explore further ways to optimize the process.
目前，由于针对其环境压力过程的专利，研究人员认为，该方法具有使用可再生资源来制作各种塑料以支持化石燃料的“很多潜力”。
Further information on the study can be found in the paper titled:“通过加强还原性催化解结构，环境压力木质素化为高性能聚合物，”published in the Sciences Advances journal. The paper was co-authored by R. O’Dea, P. Pranda, Y. Luo, A. Amitrano, E. Ebikade, E. Gottlieb, O. Ajao, M. Benali, D. Vlachos, M. Ierapetritou, T. Epps.
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特色图片显示UD研究人员和同事正在研究的最终产品之一是创建生物金黄素用于3D打印。通过Paula Pranda的照片。
