Creating Value from Base Waste with Translation to Austere Environments: 3D Printing in Mobile Recycling Facilities

Contested environments present unique challenges for maintaining equipment or prototyping on-demand solutions. Resource scarcity and regional considerations must be anticipated in advance in order to ensure that all necessary materials are forward deployed. Operational missions can be further complicated by potentially unpredictable resupply of essential materials and equipment. Consequently, excessive amounts of costly on-demand inventory often must be pre-positioned in case of aging equipment failure or compromised reserve replenishment. These considerations can constrain innovative autonomy, increase supply chain costs and delay fulfilling mission objectives.  Recent manufacturing advancements offer potential locally-based alternatives to reduce the dependence on materials and equipment imported into theater using 3D-printing. However, the ability to produce functional 3D-prints is contingent on access to input materials, which can degrade over time. Specifically, the ability to source locally available raw material and feed it directly into a printer could be extremely advantageous for the warfighter by eliminating logistics of importing & storing extruded filament. Furthermore, the ability to use plastic waste as a feedstock has the added benefit of reducing supply chain costs, achieving sustainability goals, and increasing readiness. The benefits of this innovation are amplified when 3D-printing large-scale industrial objects (defined as > 18 inches cubed) as the production of large-scale products represents a larger investment of time and material costs (pellets/flake are ~ 1/10th the cost of filament and can print faster). With domain expertise in large-scale 3D-printing, re:3D has developed a 3D printer capable of printing with virgin or recycled pellets and flake. Plastic waste sourced for DAF bases has been tested for 3D-printing feasibility & multiple requests for objects that can have DAF value have been received across CONUS. Potential DAF users of this hardware have requested packaging all the equipment that supports 3D-printing from waste in an off-grid container. During this award, re:3D proposes to further analyze the plastic waste created at USAFA, and adjust the hardware needed to enable a system that supports the collection, processing & 3D-printing of functional parts of DAF value directly from plastic trash in two containerized 3D-printing Mobile Recycling Facilities (MRF’s) powered by off-grid power.  Curriculum will be developed for USAFA faculty & cadets to support operations, maintenance & training upon installation at the he Field Engineering and Readiness Laboratory(FERL).