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3D Printing Business not too long ago attended AM Summit 2023, which was held at Ok. B. Hallen in Copenhagen. Organized by Danish AM Hub, this annual occasion is Scandinavia’s largest additive manufacturing convention.
With over 600 guests in attendance, AM Summit 2023 drew audio system from throughout the additive manufacturing sector to supply insights by means of quite a few keynote speeches and panel discussions. 46 additive manufacturing firms additionally exhibited throughout the occasion, affording a chance for guests to discover key 3D printing choices for a spread of purposes.
The overarching theme of AM Summit 2023 was “sustainability,” with a transparent concentrate on the advantages of 3D printing as a extra sustainable various to conventional manufacturing.
“The core of our journey is a basic perception that AM has a lot extra to supply,” said Danish AM Hub CEO Frank Rosengreen Lorenzen. “The additive manufacturing technique merely should be the strategy that holds the biggest potential when it comes to sustainability.”
Danish AM Hub is a key advocate of sustainability in additive manufacturing. It was not too long ago introduced that the group has been made a core companion of Formnext 2023, the world’s largest 3D printing commerce present. Together with delegates from Sweden, Norway and Finland, Danish AM Hub will lead this 12 months’s Nordic companion area in Frankfurt. The group will “put sustainability on prime of the agenda within the AM trade the place it belongs” at Formnext 2023, in line with Lorenzen.
EOS and “accountable manufacturing”
One firm that claims to attempt for sustainability in additive manufacturing is 3D printer producer EOS. Marie Langer, EOS CEO, took to the stage in Copenhagen to show how the corporate is pursuing “accountable manufacturing.”
Taking the reins of the corporate in 2019, Langer claims that her first choice was to “put sustainability on the heart of what we do, as a result of I actually consider that expertise and innovation can and has to contribute to make the world a greater place.”
Certainly, again in 2021 EOS launched its first sustainability report, with the corporate establishing an inner Carbon Accounting and Controlling (CAC) system “to actually be capable of establish how a lot CO2 footprint emissions we’re contributing to, and likewise setting ourselves targets for the longer term.”
What’s extra, Langer additionally highlights how EOS desires to “put accountable manufacturing on the core of what we do,” launching a “Accountable Merchandise” idea to realize this. Right here, the corporate works with analysis and audit companions to make sure that as soon as a product is launched, any claims concerning particular CO2 reductions might be audited and licensed. Langer emphasised that it’s vital for patrons to have actual proof concerning the corporate’s sustainability claims to keep away from greenwashing, asserting that “greenwashing is not going to be any answer for the local weather disaster we’re working into.” Along with certification, clients are additionally given paperwork which present your entire life cycle evaluation (LCA) of their EOS merchandise.
The primary “Accountable Merchandise” have been launched within the polymer supplies house throughout Formnext 2022, nonetheless Langer confirmed that extra supplies will comply with sooner or later. At the moment, EOS has two “Accountable Polymer” powders in the marketplace, the PA 1101 ClimateNeutral and the PA 2200 CarbonReduced.
Moreover, EOS’s Sensible Fusion software program, additionally launched throughout Formnext 2022, was highlighted by Langer as being “an enormous recreation changer within the metallic trade.” This software program is claimed to considerably lower materials waste, decreasing assist by 80% in a single use case.
Langer additionally pointed to EOS’s Value and Carbon Calculator as encouraging sustainable manufacturing for its clients. Developed by the corporate’s Additive Minds and Sustainability groups, this on-line device gives entry to clear price and carbon evaluation, visible analytics, price sensitivity evaluation, report era, data-driven design to fulfill buyer targets, and customised instances for buyer pricing.
In the end, the calculator makes it straightforward “for our clients particular purposes to calculate carbon emissions and likewise share the pricing to actually consider the inexperienced enterprise case,” commented Langer.
Is 3D printed meat the reply to sustainable meals?
The meat trade was additionally highlighted as a key contributor to international sustainability challenges throughout this 12 months’s Copenhagen-based occasion. Daniel Dikovsky, CTO at meals 3D printing agency Redefine Meat, took to the stage to spotlight how the corporate’s 3D printed steak is offering a viable and sustainable various to conventional meat merchandise.
In keeping with Dikovsky, “Beef is creating an enormous, big downside which is comparable solely to the transportation sector within the quantity of greenhouse gasoline emission, within the land that it occupies, the feed that we develop for these animals, and likewise in water consumption and antibiotics launched to the bottom.” Certainly, cows reared for meat are mentioned to require roughly 8.5x extra water than people each day.
To fight these challenges, Redefine Meat employs plant-based tissue engineering expertise to 3D print steak merchandise which are mentioned to precisely mirror the feel and style of their cow-reared options. Right here, the corporate employs a “bottom-up” strategy, utilizing it’s personal formulated plant-based “fats, muscle, blood, connective tissue, and different components” to create the meat-free merchandise. The corporate has developed a digital course of to precisely mix these components and create the specified textures.
Again in 2018, Redefine Meat created its first proof of idea, highlighting a capability to extrude a number of completely different supplies and create a marble meat construction. This course of was developed additional, with the corporate producing its first tenderloin in 2021 that possessed the “traits that you’d count on to have from a steak.”
The corporate’s product portfolio has now grown to incorporate a spread of 3D printed steak merchandise which have been launched to market, and are being served in 2122 eating places world wide.
Dikovsky additionally pointed to the event of the corporate’s proprietary meat-free steak 3D printer, referred to as the Angus System. “The machine is designed to fulfill the market wants for quick manufacturing at low prices,” commented Dikovsky. “There’s plenty of work that’s being achieved not solely to indicate proof of idea, however make it commercially viable.”
One key problem confronted on this course of pertains to meals security necessities. “It’s not like making polymers or plastics or metals, it’s completely completely different,” added Dikovsky, who highlighted the hygiene and temperature challenges that should be met within the manufacturing of this 3D printer. “We have to resolve all of those necessities as a way to put a manufacturing system in a meals manufacturing lab.”
Dikovsky emphasizes that the Angus 3D printer is “very scalable” and may obtain “actual full scale industrial manufacturing” sooner or later.
Dikovsky argues that the environmental advantages of 3D printed meat are substantial. In keeping with Dikovsky, Redefine Meat’s New-Meat merchandise scale back water consumption by 96%, lower land occupation by 98% and scale back greenhouse gasses by 91% in comparison with conventional farming strategies.
3D printing for sustainable structure and development
Sustainable structure and development was one other key theme throughout AM Summit 2023. Numerous audio system, panelists, and exhibitors akin to 3D printed furnishings firm recozy, emphasised the sustainability advantages of utilizing additive manufacturing for architectural and development purposes.
AM Hub’s Programme Director Eleanora Orsetti highlighted that development is an trade which the group is eager to work with. “We have now various challenges associated to the development trade. It’s liable for 35% of the supplies used, 37% of waste manufacturing, and 40% of CO2 emissions globally,” Commented Orsetti.
Orsetti additionally famous that 3D printing in development is essentially based mostly round concrete, arguing that this isn’t essentially the most sustainable choice. “We attempt to consider easy methods to take a step ahead, how we are able to have extra versatile and short-term constructions, how we are able to mix completely different supplies and methods, but additionally easy methods to have improved design freedom and contain native communities to design their very own areas.”
With this objective in thoughts, Danish AM Hub has collaborated with Bjarke Ingels Group to run the I AM MSHRM challenge. This collaboration has seen the design and part-construction of a 3D printed, quickly deployable, and simply assembled short-term construction. Key to this challenge is materials effectivity, with the construction’s frames being 3D printed utilizing plastic waste, domestically sourced sugarcane and cornstarch.
Catherine Huang, a Companion at Bjarke Ingels Group, argued that additive manufacturing affords important benefits when it comes to materials effectivity. “It has such a chance to cut back waste by printing solely the components that you simply want and with out the necessity for conventional molds and types. So that you save on materials.”
The 3D printed frames are full of mycelium, a naturally occurring fungi, to create the construction’s partitions. “As a substitute of requiring 20 years to develop a tree, you may develop mycelium paneling in 20 days or much less,” defined Huang. “This print, which is at the moment manufactured from recycled plastic, may additionally grow to be a biomaterial and grow to be absolutely compostable. So on the finish of life, it goes again into the bottom.”
While solely a small part of this donut-shaped construction has been 3D printed thus far, the crew plans to complete and set up the entire constructing in Copenhagen within the coming years. The construction has additionally been designed for use as a quickly deployable emergency shelter.
To completely decide the sustainability advantages of the I AM MSHRM challenge, the crew utilized Danish AM Hubs’s CO2e calculator device. Right here, the CO2 emissions of one of many construction’s arches was in contrast with that of a construction made out of aluminum and common insulation materials. In the end, the outcomes confirmed that the I AM MSHRM construction diminished CO2 emissions by 80%.
Additionally within the area of sustainable development, Hedwig Heinsman Co-Founder & Artistic Director at Aectual and Thijs Van Hooijdonk, Supervisor Advertising Recycled Merchandise at Tetra Pak, outlined their ongoing collaboration to 3D print a sequence of architectural merchandise from recycled beverage cartons.
By way of this collaboration, Aectual 3D prints “absolutely round and customizable inside and architectural options at scale out of recycled waste supplies,” in line with Heinsman. Using recycled materials from Tetra Pak, the corporate designs and 3D prints inside and architectural options. As an illustration, the corporate has 3D printed inside wall panels for international sneaker producer Nike.
Key to this providing is that it’s utterly round, with Aectual’s 3D printed architectural constructions being shredded after which re-printed on the finish of life. Given the intensive materials waste generated by the development trade, Aectual and Tetra Pak’s additive manufacturing course of is claimed to supply important potential in sustainable manufacturing.
In line with this concentrate on development and structure, this 12 months’s AM Affect Award was awarded to 3D printing development firm 3DCP Group. The AM Affect award goals to recognise firms which have “pushed the boundaries, demonstrated the capabilities of AM, and championed sustainability,” in line with Lorenzen. Along with 3DCP Group, international toy producer Lego and metal device system producer Asgaard Metals have been additionally nominated.
3DCP Group obtained the 2023 AM Affect award in recognition of their work in Lviv, Ukraine, the place the corporate 3D printed a concrete kindergarten construction. 3DCP Group’s Founder and CEO Mikkel Brich said that concrete 3D printing expertise might be utilized to “rebuild cities in a matter of weeks or months, as a substitute of it taking a few years,” with the corporate hoping to 3D print extra buildings in Ukraine sooner or later.
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Featured picture exhibits the exhibition corridor at AM Summit. Photograph through Danish AM Hub.
