This lamp is 3D printed from orange peels

A lot 3D printing substances can be used for printing today. Most people opt for conventional plastics with plastics like ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) or polycarbonate. Krill Design, however, has opted for fruit. Oranges. Well, orange peel, exactly.

The Milan-based design agency, which specializes in the development of organic materials, has discarded Sicilian orange peels and turned them into a completely natural and compostable biopolymer, which it has then used to print the new 3D. Ohmie lamp.

The biopolymer has been in development for years, as it is a breakthrough in the agency’s work for Autogrill, a multinational Italian restaurant known for its food outlets at airports and highway service stations. Krill created his original WasOrange material from the fruit waste, and then 3D-printed ordinary sugar bags, basically containers, for Autogrill last year.

Krill has managed to improve its formula enough to make a biodegradable, dark dark lamp made from the skin of two or three Sicilian oranges added to the biopolymeric base derived from plant starches.

Domiziana Illengo, head of marketing at Krill, says that in addition to the abundance of oranges in Italy (about 3% of the world’s oranges are produced in Sicily), there is a reason that citrus peel is particularly useful. “The link between the basic biopolymer made from the fermentation of vegetable starches and the material attached to organic crops requires the need for sugars,” he says. “Oranges are particularly rich, not just sugar, but also carbohydrates, which are basically the same thing on a chemical level. So that helps us develop a strong material.”

The main problem for Krill in the construction of the lamp was to obtain the material to hold the heaviest part of the material compared to the simple containers made for Autogrill, allowing it to be kept safe. The company made seven prototypes to arrive at this latest design. The back is as straight as possible and leaves the head angled as long as the head is not tilted or falling to the side.

Apparently, the thing that sets Ohmie apart from other lamps is that it is made from the skin of oranges and, thanks to its construction material, it has a rather divergent smell. “It’s similar to orange biscuits, not oranges, because the material is toasted through the process,” says Illengoa. “So it reminds me of cookies, really.”

Krill says his cooked orange plastic cookie can be used on any home 3D printer, but there may be problems with quality control. The tricky aspect is that not all 3D printers are created with the idea of ​​being able to print bioplastic materials enhanced with organic matter. “It will cost people who want to experiment at home to get the right heat,” says Illengoa. “Inside a 3D printer is a chamber where the material melts, then it comes out of a nozzle on the other side. But because there are no 3D printers specifically designed for biomaterials, it is very difficult to achieve that specific temperature. ”