Wood Waste Isn’t Waste Anymore with New Building Technology

A group of researchers have created a potential alternative for structural flooring material using wood waste and bioplastics.

Wood waste won’t be wasted anymore if a new technology developed by researchers comes to fruition. SHoP Architects working with the Department of Energy and the University of Maine have created a structural floor material that is 3D printed and made entirely of wood flour and bioplastic. They claim it is a viable alternative to using steel and concrete while at the same time offering a product that is recyclable. As such it can be made faster and with more regard to the environment.

“We saw the precedent in the aerospace industry, where they introduce new technologies within small parts and expand outward to the whole,” SHoP principal John Cerone told Dezeen, the design newsletter that reported on the new process.

“We applied that principle by isolating a building system product — a light-gauge steel floor cassette assembly — from an existing supply-chain partner to benchmark its replacement with a single solid-state, printed, bio-based part.”

The panels use polylactic acid (PLA), a bioplastic derived from corn residue, which is mixed with wood flour made from lumber processing waste. The floor panel’s strength comes from the combination of these two materials as well as its geometric shape, Dezeen reported. “Adding wood flour to the PLA increases its stiffness significantly,” Dezeen quoted a researcher stating. There were no estimates on when the process could be applied commercially to building projects.

Image: Dezeen

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