Weeefiner, which has succeeded in the growth race, is making a circular economy business with its invention based on 3D printing – “We can recover any metal or nutrient”

Like a porous, rough-surfaced cheese disc. That's what the 4D Sieppari developed by Weeefiner Oy looks and feels like. When, for example, wastewater from a mine or industrial plant is pumped through it, the Sieppari, as its name suggests, captures the desired, soluble metals or nutrients from the wastewater. The material is the secret The light disc looks dense, but it is full of nano-sized pores and cavities. This means that the Sieppari, even a few centimeters in size, has a huge chemically reactive surface area to which the desired material can adhere. The structure is an innovation from Weeefiner. It has been created by grinding specific types of recovery materials. Usually, the material is a mixture of plastic waste and chemically active material. “I can’t reveal what materials the Sieppars are made of, but there are dozens of different materials that we can make Sieppar from. The manufacturing material is customized according to what the customer wants to recover. We can recover any metal or nutrient,” hints Saara Tuhkanen, Weeefiner’s development manager. Weeefiner has built a reactor system around the Sieppar. The company is a technology supplier but also provides recovery as a service. Bigger printer Laboratory Manager Tuija Solismaa-Pirnes demonstrates how beautiful blue copper is left from mining wastewater...