Homeplus 3D

Homeplus 3D wishes to launch an innovative service platform for sustainable 3D printing of housing project services, using biomaterials developed from agricultural residues.  

Many food-and-fibre related industries have a common problem: processing agricultural and forest raw materials into products leads to large volumes of biomass residues, and sustainable and added-value disposal options are very limited. In Uruguay, the estimated volume of biomass residues from agriculture and forestry operations adds up to 10 million metric tonnes. Meanwhile, the deficit of sustainable family house solutions in the rural areas of Uruguay adds up to 45.000 homes. This is a common situation in many developing countries, where country-wide agriculture and forestry operations usually are not processing their residues into added-value biomaterials. Rather, these residues are being burned which produces more greenhouse gas emissions.

Tailoring locally produced biomaterials into housing is what Homeplus 3D see as a solution to this unsustainable practice. They wish to reduce the overall carbon footprint and promote circular economies by shifting from burning biomass residues towards 3D printing using residue-derived biomaterials. The 3D printing process will even offer those industries an opportunity to develop new business partnerships with construction-related industry operators. 

Overall, Homeplus 3D envision their idea developing into an open innovation platform combining digital fabrication and biotechnology to help bridging agriculture, forestry and construction operations to build innovative carbon-negative structures.