{"id":759942,"date":"2026-06-25T19:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T19:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/759942\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T19:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T19:09:11","slug":"researchers-turned-seaweed-into-durable-construction-materials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/759942\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers Turned Seaweed into Durable Construction Materials"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"2\">Scientists at CU Boulder and Columbia figured out how to 3D-print natural earth into strong building materials. The secret is sodium alginate, a seaweed extract used to make ice cream creamy.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3\">\u201cFrom termite mounds to adobe buildings, humans and animals have been building with earth since the dawn of time,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurekalert.org\/news-releases\/1133502\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">said Wil Srubar<\/a>, professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering. \u201cBut there hasn\u2019t been a lot of science to how earthen builders design the materials. So, we wanted to use scientific knowledge and tools to understand it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Turning Seaweed into Construction Materials<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"seaweed material\" alt=\"seaweed material\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3d-printed-seaweed-material.png\" data- class=\"wp-image-66547 size-full lazyload\"\/>A vertical vessel with earthen materials; Photo: Lola Ben-Alon and the Natural Materials Lab<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">The team tested five natural glues to see what could hold dirt together in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomorrowsworldtoday.com\/technology\/this-3d-printer-manufactured-an-electrical-motor-in-hours\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">3D printer<\/a>. Some, like locust bean gum, made the dirt too thick.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6\">Sodium alginate did the opposite and changed the clay\u2019s electrical charge so the particles pushed away from each other. This let the mud flow smoothly through the printer.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7\">By adding just 0.12% sodium alginate to earth excavated in Colorado, the mixture printed 33% faster and handled 25% more pressure than plain dirt. They even printed a small wall leaning at 60 degrees without it falling over.<\/p>\n<p>Helping the Builders<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"9\">Construction projects dig up massive amounts of dirt that usually just goes to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomorrowsworldtoday.com\/sustainability\/keeping-ev-batteries-out-of-landfills\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">landfills<\/a>. This method lets builders reuse that dirt right where they dig it up.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10\">\u201cOur study suggests that there are ways to reuse waste earth material onsite, and that could largely reduce the environmental footprint of construction,\u201d said Samuel Armistead, a research associate.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"11\">He added that earth walls have actual benefits for the people living inside. Armistead said, \u201cIt can regulate indoor moisture and uptake air pollutants. It can also serve as a thermal insulator, keeping things cool in the summer and warm in the winter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"12\">\u201cClay and sand are among the most abundant building materials on Earth,\u201d Srubar explained. \u201cThe science and engineering we\u2019re developing can be applied almost anywhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scientists at CU Boulder and Columbia figured out how to 3D-print natural earth into strong building materials. The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":759943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[64,63,337,128,42119],"class_list":["post-759942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-research","tag-science","tag-world-of-innovation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=759942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}