Recycling and Reuse of 3D Printed Plant Growth Hardware for Sanitization and Crop Growth During NASA Missions

This project aimed to explore the ability to recycle end-of-life 3D printed components and inedible plant biomass generated during space plant experimentation or crop production. The end goal of this process was to produce new, clean parts thereby reducing the need for mission resupply. Materials were ground and fed through a compounding mixer alongside Polylactic Acid (PLA), a thermoplastic commonly used in 3D printing, to produce the initial generation of simulated recycled material. The study performed testing on components printed with this simulated recycled material to identify a limit for plant material addition as well as the number of times a material can be recycled while maintaining its efficacy. Following printing of each generation, excess printed material was ground to produce the feedstock for the next generation of printing. To measure changes in efficacy, printed coupons from each generation of printed and recycled materials were gathered and tested in the KSC Mechanical and Environmental Testing Laboratory (METL). Both the tensile strength across generations of material and the effect of the added plant biomass compared to recycled, pure traditional printing material were determined. Additionally, microbiological tests were performed to evaluate the viability of 3D printing processes as a sanitization step for recycled materials. A variety of microbiological organisms were tested using printing as well as exposure to dry heat as sanitization steps to determine necessary treatments to maintain cleanliness of parts and equipment.

The overall anticipated benefit of this project was to provide a baseline data set for evaluation of capabilities of 3D printed materials to be recycled and utilized for production of parts and components. The data gathered can be used to inform future work in terms of material selection, material life expectancy, mass requirements, and necessary treatment steps for recycling. Results and lessons learned from this study also lay the groundwork for future studies involving the utilization and further analysis of recycled materials.

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