Environmental Life Cycle Analysis of Distributed 3-D Printing and Conventional Manufacturing of Polymer Products

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Megan Kreiger and Joshua M. Pearce (2013). Environmental Life Cycle Analysis of Distributed 3-D Printing and Conventional Manufacturing of Polymer Products, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering,1 (12), (2013) pp. 1511–1519. DOI: 10.1021/sc400093k Open access

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Abstract

With the recent development of the RepRap, an Open Source self-replicating rapid prototyper, low-cost 3D Printing is now a technically viable form of distributed Open Manufacturing of polymer-based products. However, the aggregate environmental benefits of distributed manufacturing are not clear due to scale reductions and the potential for increases in embodied energy. To quantify the environmental impact of distributed manufacturing using 3-D printers, a life cycle analysis was performed on three plastic products. The embodied energy and emissions from conventional large-scale production in low-labor cost countries and shipping are compared to experimental measurements on a RepRap with and without solar photovoltaics (PV) power fabricating products with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polylactic acid (PLA). The results indicate that the cumulative energy demand of manufacturing polymer products can be reduced by 41-64% (55-74% with PV) and concomitant emission reductions using distributed manufacturing with existing low-cost open-source 3-D printers when using <25% fill PLA. Less pronounced positive environmental results are observed with ABS, which demands higher temperatures for the print bed and extruder. Overall, the results indicate that distributed manufacturing using open-source 3-D printers has the potential to have a lower environmental impact than conventional manufacturing for a variety of products.

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