When it comes to 3D printing, the sky is the limit. As 3D printing technology continues to advance, applications can be as far reaching as airplane and automobile parts to medical devices and even anatomically correct, biocompatible models. Although 3D printing technology is developing at a rapid pace, the technology itself is not new. It emerged in the 1980s as a means of creating rapid prototypes. In recent years the applications for 3D printed models have evolved with the available hardware, software, and printable materials. Evolving technology, paired with the creative and innovative minds of scientists, engineers, and physicians, has been the launching pad for developments within 3D printing technology specific to healthcare. One way 3D printing technology is poised to create better patient outcomes is in creating an anatomically and patient-specific models to aid in surgery and medical procedures. With the capability to 3D ...
Tens of thousands of bio-based products are currently being manufactured in North America. For example, large industrial companies are making feedstocks from soybean oil rather than petroleum.
Though chemicals made from renewable materials may be popular and helping the chemical industry to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, a new study provides more data that bio-based chemicals aren’t automatically more environmentally-friendly than their petroleum-derived equivalents, reports Hayley Birch for Chemistry World.
For the new study, researchers at the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands focused on glutamic acid. Glutamic acid is an amino acid and the starting material for numerous compounds, including chemicals used to make plastics. The researchers used lifecycle analysis to compare the environmental impact of producing four industrial chemicals from the glutamic acid that was isolated in two ways: from petrochemicals and from vinasse, a by-product of processing sugar beets.
Birch reports:
They used a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach to understand the impact of each stage of the production process on the environment under categories spanning, among others, use of land and resources, climate change, ozone layer depletion and toxicity to different types of ecosystems. There are currently no commercial bio-based processes for the chemicals the authors studied, the proposed routes being based on small scale experiments or designs. However, their results suggest that only two of the four chemicals could be made using vinasse as a feedstock in a way that would be environmentally competitive with traditional routes.
The researchers found that bio-based N-methyl pyrrolidone` (NMP) and N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) had less environmental impact than their petroleum counterparts, whereas bio-based acrylonitrile or succinonitrile did not.
Christopher Dettore, Genencor’s LCA specialist in San Francisco, told Birch that the industry relies on LCAs to guide process development as well as to differentiate products already in the marketplace. He acknowledged that bio-based products are not necessarily more sustainable than their alternatives, but that each case is a separate story.
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