Texas A&M receives US$3M research grant for 3D printing biomass packaging

10 May 2023 --- US researcher Dr. Zhijian Pei of Texas A&M University has received US$3 million from the National Science Foundation manufacturing grant to investigate substituting petroleum-based plastics or natural wood products with biomass.

“What is new in our project is to use 3D printing to produce products from the composites for packaging and other applications,” Pei, professor in the Wm Michael Barnes ’64 Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Texas A&M University, tells PackagingInsights. 

Pei and his intercollegiate team were given the Future Manufacturing Research Grant from the National Science Foundation’s Future Manufacturing Program, which funds researchers to develop new manufacturing capability that does not exist today. 

3D printing fungi 
The team will test 3D printing on living matter to substitute petroleum-based plastics. 

“Our idea is to use living matter, including fungi, algae, bacteria, plus agriculturally derived biomass and use 3D printing to make products,” says Pei. 

While 3D printing with living matter, or bioprinting, is used in health-related applications, Pei says his main applications are in packaging, furniture and construction industries.

“Traditionally, manufacturing is mass production in one location,” Pei explains. “It makes millions of parts and then ships them to different places. 3D printing is more suitable for distributed manufacturing – a small quantity of product is made at different places.” 

A three million grant will be put toward finding a biomass replacement for petroleum-based plastics.Building biomass packaging
The interdisciplinary research team includes experts from manufacturing, biology, civil and environmental engineering and mechanics. Researchers across universities are collaborating to use biomass for plastic replacements. 

Pei works on fungi-biomass composites, California Institute of Technology, US, works on algae-biomass composites and the University of Southern California, US, studies bacteria and biomass.

Along with the research, the team will create educational components as part of the grant, including a textbook, an undergraduate student research program and a training program for people working in the industry.

“We have just started working on the project and don’t have much to report yet,” Pei adds about the findings so far.

The rise of fungi solutions 
Earlier this year, Finnish scientists developed durable and lightweight materials from the Fomes fomentarius mushroom that proved promising as a reusable, biodegradable plastic replacement.  

“Using biomass-fungi composites for packaging is not new. Companies have produced packaging products from the composites using molding-based manufacturing methods,” explains Pei. 

However, the Finnish research only investigated creating the material rather than using it to form packaging solutions.

Start-up Fungi Solutions, based in Melbourne, Australia, aims to divert organic waste from landfills by being Australia’s “first business” to convert fungi into packaging. The converting process combines fungi with organic waste to grow and create compostable packaging.

The process begins with agricultural waste broken down and combined with mycelium, the root network of fungi, which is then placed in a mold. The mold is put in a warm dark room and grown to form in seven days. It’s then dried to create solid packaging. The process takes longer than an average PET plastic packaging solution but has the benefit of being more environmentally sustainable, claims the start-up

By Sabine Waldeck