Life Cycle Assessment of 3D-Printed Bone Tissue Engineering Scaffolds
Authors: Tajurahim Nurul Ainina Nadhirah , Mahmood Salwa , Saman Muhamad Zameri Mat , Ngadiman Nor Hasrul Akhmal 
Published: June 2021

The bone tissue engineering scaffolds are one of the methods to repairing bone defects caused by various factors. According to modern tissue engineering technology, three-dimensional (3D) printing technology for bone tissue engineering provides a temporary basis for the creation of biological replacements. Through the generated 3D bone tissue engineering scaffolds from previous studies, the assessment to evaluate the environmental impact has shown less attention in research. Purposes — The main purpose of this research at developing the life cycle assessment (LCA) Model for 3D bone tissue engineering scaffolds of 3D gel-printing technology and present the analysis technique of LCA from cradle-to-gate to assess the environmental impacts from material selection and manufacturing processes. LCA is indeed a valuable tool for conducting a complete environmental impact assessment of 3D bone tissue engineering scaffolds. Method — The methodology of this research is based on the LCA Model through the application of GaBi software according to ISO 14040 standards. The parameters for the developed LCA Model were determined through the system boundaries of 3D gel-printing technology. Acrylamide, citric acid, N,N-Dimethylaminopropyl acrylamide, deionized water, and 2-Hydroxyethyl acrylate were selected as the material resources. Meanwhile, the 3D gel-printing technology was used as the manufacturing processes in the system boundary. Besides, consideration of LCA Model was given to all phases of LCA approach set out in the regulatory framework. The analytical findings are presented through graphs generated by GaBi software based on the inventory of each material and manufacturing process used. Results — The environmental impact was assessed in the 3D gel-printing technology and the result obtained showed the environmental impact of global warming potential (GWP). All of the emissions contribute to GWP have been identified such as emission to air, freshwater, seawater, and industrial soil. The quantity of flows that contributes to GWP comes from electricity consumption, manufacturing process, and material resources. Conclusions — The input data is understood to be resources required whereas, the output is the emission of the different compartments such as emission to air, water, and soil. The issue of GWP is represented by the GWP impacts category. Any emissions to air, water, and soil that contributes to GWP are classified as contributors. Throughout the results, it can be described that the impact category in the system comes from the linking process of specific resources to the specific environmental issue. Thus, it is believed that the development of LCA Model is very helpful to graphically assess the potential environmental impact associated with the material and manufacturing processes of a product’s life cycle. Besides, the data analysis of the results is expected to use for improving the performance at the material and manufacturing process of the product life cycle. Also, it is to makes the production process more environmentally friendly.