A 3D Printed Lamp From Orange Peels

A startup based in Milan has innovated a stunning, novel 3D-printed lamp that looks like oranges as it uses orange peel as its base material. Krill Design infused each of its ‘Ohmie’ Lamp with the peels of two oranges. It obtains the orange peels from waste piles of foods industries, turns the peels into powder, and mixes them with a special polymer. It then processes the mixture into a filament that a 3D printer can use to make a lamp. The product is an authentic textured material that is compostable and has an orange peel hue.

The biopolymer development process has taken many years and was the startup’s work for Autogrill, a multinational catering company based in Italy, dealing with food stores at highway service stations and airports. Krill made the original WasOrange material from waste material and then utilized it for 3D printing normal sugar packet holders for Autogrill. Krill has now improved its formula to make a biodegradable and compact lamp made up of Sicilian orange peels mixed with a biopolymer base made from plant starch.

The startup’s marketing manager, Domiziana Illengo, stated that in addition to the fact that oranges are plentiful in Italy, there are other reasons why citrus peels are useful. There is a relationship between the organic citrus peels and the basic biopolymers made from plant starch fermentation, and this is the fact that the two require sugar to bind. Oranges are carbohydrates with some sugar content. This particularly makes them identical chemically with the biopolymer. Thus, the material produced is strong enough. Up next might be coffee tables made from coffee…