Turning agricultural biowaste into high-value 3D-printing materials

Bagasse is a waste plant matter obtained by food industry processes with major potential for several high-value products. An innovative idea of utilizing bagasse is for production of nanocellulose and testing this for wound dressing devices, manufactured by 3D printing. The next step in the development of wound dressings is the personalized aspect of the biomaterials, i.e. wound dressings that are structured and composed of constituents specially selected for a specific wound and wound treatment. Furthermore, sensors could be integrated into wound dressings and thus monitor various aspects of wound development, e.g. moisture and exudates in chronic wounds.