Italian injection press maker Sandretto SpA is moving in three new directions at once: bioresins, additive manufacturing and energy recover from trash.
Sandretto has already rolled out a line of additive manufacturing machines, built in its headquarters plant in Pont Canavese, Italy.
Now Sandretto, which is owned by Belgian firm Photonike Capital SA, is joining forces with British renewable energy firm Green Power Industries Ltd. to develop build micro-factories for making PET and polylactic acid from sugar. Sandretto's Engineering Process division will produce and sell the bioresin factories worldwide.
The goal is to product bioplastics using the low-cost process by 2016, the companies said.
In the waste-to-energy side, Photonike is signing a contract with Swiss company EPPM AG that will have Sandretto producing some of the equipment.