Nesli Sozer gave a presentation about 3D food printing: A disruptive Food Manufacturing Technology at the 3D Food Printing Conference on 28th of June 2017 in Venlo.

1. VTT TECHNICAL RESEARCH CENTRE OF FINLAND LTD
3D food printing: A Disruptive
Food Manufacturing
Technology
3D Food Printing Conference, 28 June 2017, Venlo
Nesli Sözer (PhD), Principal Investigator

2. 2
What is Additive
Manufacturing or 3D
printing ?

3. 323.8.2017 3
Additive manufacturing (AM)
“The process of joining materials to make
objects from 3D model data, usually layer upon
layer, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing
methodologies”
ASTM F42 Committee
Statistics 2016 – application areas (Wohlers report 2016)
It is forecasted that
the global 3D printing
products and services
will reach 10 billion €
by 2021 (Wohlers
report).

4. 4
AM Technologies which could be applied for
food printing
Binder jetting
/ Powder bed
Material Jetting:
Paste extrusion &inkjet
Indirect
- mold

5. 5
Binder Jetting Powder Bed Fusion
http://www.custompartnet.com/wu/images/rapid-prototyping/sls.png
 Thermal energy selectively
fuses regions of a powder bed
 Support structures are needed +
many post processing phases
 A liquid bonding agent is selectively
deposited to join powder materials
 Might result in weak structures (good for
design purposes)
http://blog.nus.edu.sg/u0804594/common-rp-techniques/d-3dp/

6. 6
Material Jetting
Paste extrusion Inkjet
 Medium to high viscosity
 No support needed
 Solidification upon cooling or
gel forming before or during
printing
 Low viscosity
 Support needed
Godoi et al., 2016

7. 7
Material Jetting (inkjet & syringe)
 Material/paste is selectively dispensed
through a nozzle or orifice
 No need for support structure
 Droplets of build material are
selectively deposited
 Support structures are needed
Godoi et al., 2016
Where are we with 3D
food printing?

8. 823.8.2017 8
Need for 3D food printing
Active
participation
Design
Pleasure
Eating
experience
Cooking
experience
Playfulness
Personalized
Food
(healthy, nutritious, balanced)
Affordable
3D Printing

9. 923/08/2017 9
Benefit
 Food ingredient industry benefits: Development of new added value
ingredients and mixes
 Food and retail industry benefits:
 Customization/ Co-creation
 Nutrition
 Flavor/color
 Texture
 On-demand and on-the-go production
 Economy at low volume production
 Flexibility
 New product design
 Novel mouthfeel experience
 Multi-layer printing of various textures
 Use of novel alternative sources (i.e. algae, side-streams insects)

10. 1023/08/2017 10
History of 3D Food Printing
 2006 Fab@Home
Paste extrusion by f.ex. frostings, Nutella,
chocolate (Cornell Univ.)
 2006-2009 CandyFab, Sugar printing
(EvilMad Scientist Lab)
 2012-2015 FP7-PERFORMANCE, easy to
chew and swallow senior food printing from
pastes (Biozoon).
 2013, printing of advanced shapes by sugar
(sugar sculptures) (3D Systems)
 2013, in vitro meat by bioprinter (Modern
Meadow)
 2014, printing of chocolate, (Hershey’s & 3D
Systems)
 2015, printed pasta, (Barilla & TNO)

11. 11
Use of 3D printing techniques applied for food design
Food product Materials AM Technology Reference
Cakes Cake batter, icing Extrusion (single head) Yang et al., 2001
Toffee Sugar granules Granular bed sintering The CandyFab Project,
2009
Chocolate Seeded chocolate Extrusion (single head) Causer, 2009
Hydrogel based food
structures
Xanthan and gelatin Extrusion (twin head) Cohen et al., 2009
3D structures by
fused powders
Sugar, Nesquick® Laser bed sintering Gray, 2010
Chocolate with filling Chocolate solids and
pumpable fillings
Hot-melt extrusion Zoran and Coelho,
2011
3D images embedded
in solid foods
Food-ink pastes and
gels
Extrusion (single head) Golding et al., 2011
Edible 3D prints Mashed potato, sugar,
chocolate, icing
Extrusion (single head) Southerland et al., 2011
Edible 3D insect
structures
Insect powders with
firming agents and
flavours
Extrusion (single head) Soares et al., 2011
Cereal based snack Wheat flour Extrusion (single head) Severini et al., 2016

12. 1223/08/2017 12
Key Patents
Title: Brief Content (Patent number), owner
Multifunctional Food Printer: Multifunctional 3D food printer with high efficiency and high
precision. (CN 203136994 U, 2013) Zengcgeng Lego Foods, CN
Additive manufacturing for producing edible compositions: 3D Food printing system that
allows customization of nutritional content, flavour and taste (WO 2014/190217 A1, ) Systems and
Materials Res Corp., USA
Manufacturing food using 3D printing technology: 3D Printing System with a heating
device to control rheology (WO 2014/190168 A1) Natural Machines LLC, ES
Extrusion Device of 3D: Extrusion device of a 3D printer for food, applicable for a wide range
of raw materials (CN 204249369 U , 2015) Pingliang Ruije Technology Co, CN
Multi-material food 3D printing device: 3D printing device including a cooking system.
(CN 204070482 U, 2015) Xi An Elite Robotics Technology Co. Ltd, CN
Method for the production of an edible object by powder bed (3D) printing and food
products obtainable therewith: Production of an edible object from edible powders and at
least one edible liquid. (WO 2015/115897 A1) TNO, NL Frost and Sullivan, 2015

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Challenges in 3D printing of food
Material science:
 Shape stability  Additive and recipe control (need for: thickeners,
enzymes, crosslinking agents with shape memory)
 Replicate traditional foods  Compatible printing material with
traditional cooking, i.e. baking, frying
 Rheology of food materials vary by time  Stable print materials
needed
Manufacturing technology:
 Safety  Easy to clean surfaces, cartridges
 Throughput  High throughput or large reservoir needed for vast
printing
 Speed  Either fast or cheap enough to operate thousands (applies
particularly for food industry)

14. VTT approach

15. 23/08/2017 15
Aim
Evaluate the applicability of various
protein, starch and fiber-rich food
ingredients and their mixtures in 3D
printed healthy customized snacks.

16. 23/08/2017 16
Materials
Materials Composition
Rye bran (micronized)
(VTT)
13 % prot,44 % starch,27 % DF,2% fat
Oat protein conc (OPC)
(VTT)
48 % prot,37 % starch,7 % DF,4 % fat
Faba bean protein
(FPC) (VTT)
62 % prot, 1 % starch, 11 % DF, 3.5 %
fat
Starch (Ultra-Sperse,
Ingredion)
cold water swelling modified food starch
derived from waxy maize starch
Skimmed milk powder
(SMP) (Valio)
35 % prot, 53 % lactose, 0.6 % fat
Semi-skimmed milk
powder (SSMP) (Valio)
37 % prot, 38 % carbohy (lactose free),
15 % fat

17. 23/08/2017 17
Preparation of Samples for Printing
 The pastes consisting of starch or milk powder alone were prepared
by mixing the starch or milk powder into deionized water followed by
homogenization.
 The plant protein concentrates (OPC, FBPC) and rye bran were
suspended in deionized water and heated in a boiling water bath for
10 min under regular mixing. The suspension was allowed to cool to
room temperature and homogenized.

18. 23/08/2017 18
3D Printing Process
 3D printing of the pastes were
performed by nScrypt printer (nScrypt,
Inc, Orlando, Florida)
 25 mm x 25 mm squares filled with
diamond-like structures were 3D
printed at room temperature
 # of layers and thickness: 10 , 0.3 mm
 printing speed: 2mm/s
 diameter of the tip: 0.41
 air pressure: 22-600 kPa depending on
the paste material.
 Post processing: Oven drying at 100
oC 15-30 min or freeze drying.
Material extrusion type of device used for
3D printing of food materials

19. Results

20. Printability of pastes prepared from starch
and/or milk powder

21. 23/08/2017 21
Printability of pastes prepared from rye bran or
plant protein concentrates

22. 23/08/2017 22
Oscillatory stress sweeps for selected pastes

23. 23/08/2017 23
The effect of post processing on selected samples
Sample list: 1) 1.5% CNF + 5% starch, 2) 15% starch, 3) 30% rye bran,
4) 35% OPC, 5) 45% FBPC, 6) 0.8% CNF + 50 % SSMP and 7) 60%
SSMP.

24. 23/08/2017 24
Dry matter content and hardness of selected 3D
printed samples after oven- or freeze-drying
Sample
Dry matter
content (%)
Hardness (N)
Oven-
dried
Freeze-
dried
Oven-
dried
Freeze-
dried
60% SSMP 85.2 ± 0.9 89.4 ± 0.3 42.6 ± 3.1 36.7 ± 5.7
35% OPC 79.8 ± 1.9 95.6 ± 0.1 13.0 ± 2.0 2.2*
45% FBPC 63.1 ± 1.7 95.9 ± 0.1 2.9 ± 0.9 59.8 ± 16.3
*sample very fragile, only one sample could be measured

25. 2523/08/2017 25
Conclusions
 The applicability of additive manufacturing technologies is strongly
dependent on the material properties and the associated binding properties.
 We have optimized various mixes for 3D food printing, which is a starting
point for future development of healthy, customized 3D printed foods.
 Additive manufacturing in line with the ideology of prosumerism will in the
next 5 years enter the mainstream to facilitate the new industrial food
production chain to meet the increased consumer demand for
customization.

26. Multilayer food textures by advanced manufacturing
technologies 3DSURPRISE project
(Sept 2016- June 2019)
 Aim: to develop new applications of
advanced manufacturing technologies
for 3D printing of multi-textural food
structures in a techno-economically
feasible and sustainable way.
 Res. Partners: VTT(coord), Aalto Univ.
 Ind. Partners: Valio, Polttimo,
Ravintolakolmio, Selecta, 3DTech,
DeskArtes
 Main funding agency: TEKES (Finnish
Funding Agency for Innovation)
 Total budget: 690 k€

27. 2723/08/2017 27
VTT Team
in
3D Food
Printing
Sini Metsä-Kortelainen
Senior Scientist, VTT
Expertise
• 3D printing technologies
• Material science
Pasi Puukko
Research Team Leader, VTT
Expertise
• 3D printing technologies
Antti Vaajoki
Research Scientist, VTT
Expertise
• 3D printing technologies
• Material technologies
Alejandro Revuelta
Senior Scientist, VTT
Expertise
• Engineering, design
• Auxiliary in-machine operations
Martina Lille
Senior Scientist, VTT
Expertise
• Food rheology and material
characterization
Nesli Sözer
Principal Investigator, VTT
Expertise
• Food ingredient technology
• Food structure design
Kyösti Pennanen
Senior Scientist, VTT
Expertise
• Consumer research
Jaakko Paasi
Principal Scientist, VTT
Expertise
• Business and innovation
research

28. TECHNOLOGY FOR BUSINESS
Further information
please contact
nesli.sozer@vtt.fi