Can You Use Eggshells as a 3D Printing Material?

We are always discovering new and interesting 3D printing materials. Just recently, we told you about how researchers are using bacteria to essentially grow strong and porous 3D printed composite materials. And today we have yet another one: eggshells! This project, which was conducted in Mexico, revealed the potential of this food waste. Indeed, a design studio called Manufactura was able to obtain a paste from recycled shells that was used to build a wall, layer by layer. They called this initiative the “Eggshell Project”: its objective is to revalue our food waste and to bypass the use of cement in construction, a material that is quite harmful to the environment.

Mexico has been one of the world’s largest consumer of eggs for many years, as the food is still a very affordable commodity in the country and therefore a very popular protein for its inhabitants. In 2021, the annual per capita egg consumption as reported by the National Poutry Producers Association was about 409 eggs per person – for comparison, in the USA in 2022, it was around 277.5 per person. The Manufactura studio teams therefore saw an opportunity: to reuse the eggshells that up until that point had just been piling up in the garbage.

The wall was 3D printed using eggshells (photo credits: Arturo Arrieta)

The Eggshell Project: A 3D Printed Wall Made From Eggshells

To accomplish this, they harvested shells locally – from restaurants in Mexico City over a two-month period – and washed and blended them before passing them through a sieve. Then, the shells were mixed with aggregates and bio-binders to give a kind of consistent paste, which could be extruded layer by layer, without going through a cooking step. The extruder was attached to a robotic arm from KUKA and the machine was able to design different bricks. In total, 105 3D printed blocks were designed and assembled according to their shape to build a wall. The team also designed a more artistic column that includes 26 3D printed pieces.