Bagasse-A major agro-industrial residue as potential resource for nanocellulose inks for 3D printing of wound dressing devices

CHINGA-CARRASCO, GARY; EHMAN, NANCI V.; FILGUEIRA, DANIEL; JOHANSSON, JENNY; VALLEJOS, MARÍA E.; FELISSIA, FERNANDO E.; HÅKANSSON, JOAKIM; AREA, MARÍA C.

Additive Manufacturing

Elsevier B.V.

Año: 2019 vol. 28 p. 267 - 274

Sugarcane bagasse, an abundant residue, is usually burned as an energy source. However, provided that appropriate and sustainable pulping and fractionation processes are applied, bagasse can be utilized as a main source of cellulose nanofibrils (CNF). We explored in this study the production of CNF inks for 3D printing by direct-ink-writing technology. The CNF were tested against L929 fibroblasts cell line and we confirmed that the CNF from soda bagasse fibers were found not to have a cytotoxic potential. Additionally, we demonstrated that the alginate and Ca 2+ caused significant dimensional changes to the 3D printed constructs. The CNF-alginate grids exhibited a lateral expansion after printing and then shrank due to the cross-linking with the Ca 2+ . The release of Ca 2+ from the CNF and CNF-alginate constructs was quantified thus providing more insight about the CNF as carrier for Ca 2+ . This, combined with 3D printing, offers potential for personalized wound dressing devices, i.e. tailor-made constructs that can be adapted to a specific shape, depending on the characteristics of the wound healing treatment.