Saxony: Real laboratory creates new products from residues

Freiberg (dpa/sn) - The Bergakademie Freiberg has started to set up a real laboratory in which new products made from waste or renewable raw materials will be tested in the future using 3D printing.

Saxony: Real laboratory creates new products from residues

Freiberg (dpa/sn) - The Bergakademie Freiberg has started to set up a real laboratory in which new products made from waste or renewable raw materials will be tested in the future using 3D printing. The aim is to replace plastic and enable a circular economy, said the coordinator of the SAMSax project, Henning Zeidler, on Thursday. A wide variety of powders made from straw, wood flour and paper fibers, for example, but also residues from industrial production could be used in the process.

Using 3D printing, new parts and products could be made from this, such as elements for stage sets, architectural models or packaging that could replace styrofoam, for example, explained the professor of additive manufacturing. "The technology is there." The goal is close cooperation with companies in the region, who can test the implementation of their ideas here. There are already 50 permanent partners and other contacts via various networks.

The Geomin Erzgebirge lime works, which quarry white marble in Hammerunterwiesenthal, for example, are interested in the possibilities of this process. During the production of building materials, secondary components such as rocks and dust accumulated that had to be disposed of, explained Richard Kühnel from Geomin. The idea is to use such rock flour for new products instead. The 3D printing process offers promising possibilities for this.

The construction of the living laboratory is funded by the state with one million euros. According to Zeidler, the devices should be operational by the beginning of next year. The process could be used to create shapes of any complexity up to a volume of one cubic meter. It is also about larger quantities of several hundred or thousands of copies. In addition to the Bergakademie Freiberg, the Technical Universities of Dresden and Chemnitz are also involved in the project.