ZJU students win Finalists Certificate in 2018 TECO Green Tech International Contest

On August 22, the 2018 edition of the TECO Green Tech International Contest was held in Taipei, China. “Leaf for Life—Deciduous Powder 3D Printer”, designed by Zhejiang University students, was awarded to the Finalists Certificate.

The theme of the 2018 contest was green technologies, covering renewable energy, high-efficiency motor and generator, system efficiency improvement, electric vehicle, waste handling and purifying, carbon reduction and other sustainable technologies. Participants needed to engage in work descriptions, briefings and demonstrations, and oral presentations in English. The contest included the teams from such leading universities as the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Nanyang Technological University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the University of Macau, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taiwan University of Science and Technology and Lomonosov Moscow State University.

The “Leaf for Life” team was headed by WU Jie and YUE Sicong from the College of Energy Engineering. This work was completed by 7 undergraduates from different specialties, including GUO Wenguang from the College of Energy Engineering, JIANG Chenwei from the College of Electrical Engineering, XUAN Mengda from the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, FENG Tongshuai from the School of Mechanical Engineering, XU Yang of the College of Computer Science and Technology and ZHANG Linlu from the College of Economics.

With the improvement of urban landscaping, fallen leaves become a hard nut to crack for cities. Chinese cities are trapped in an awkward predicament when they are confronted with low efficiency and lengthy duration in coping with more than 1 million tons of fallen leaves every year. At present, there are two predominant ways to utilize fallen leaves: incineration power generation and composting. However, due to a series of attendant problems such as low efficiency, high costs, long durations and secondary pollution, these two ways are far from satisfactory. Against this background, the “Leaf for Life” team developed a deciduous powder 3D printer, through which fallen leaves can be converted into an elaborate work of art. Its economic value will amount to 11 times as large as that of incineration power generation or composting.

This design offers an innovative approach to dealing with fallen leaves on the basis of the 3DP principle and opens up a potential alternative to incineration and landfilling, thereby reducing gas emissions and land waste.