3D printing could help regrow coral reefs

New 3D printing structures in development by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) may have discovered a way for the technology to aid in coral reef restoration.

Scientists at the institute are 3D printing calcium carbonate surfaces, dubbed "CoraPink", that corals can grow on, which they hope may speed up the regrowth of reefs, which are currently under threat from increased ocean acidification and rising water temperatures as a result of climate change.

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The platforms allegedly provide a headstart for coral to recover faster. As the technology matures, the institute says it could create support structures for corals to grow on.

“Coral microfragments grow more quickly on our printed or moulded calcium carbonate surfaces that we create for them to grow on because they don’t need to build a limestone structure underneath,” said Hamed Albalawi, one of the lead authors of the study.

The idea of regrowing coral is not new, and researchers and scientists have long been looking to unlock the secrets to coral reef restoration, which are often central to the ecosystems in which they are found.

However, owing to how coral restores itself - often only depositing new carbonate at a rate of millimetres a year - they are degrading faster than they can regrow.

The company has performed a number of in-house tests in aquariums and claims the carbonate ink is non-toxic, meaning it can be safely used in regrowth in theory, but the team are planning longer-term tests to make sure.

"Unlike existing approaches, which rely on passive colonization of the printed support structure, 3D CoraPrint involves attaching coral microfragments to the printed skeleton to start the colonization process", the researchers revealed.

It also employs two different printing methods, both starting with a scanned model of a coral skeleton. In the first method, the model is printed and the print is then used to produce a silicone mould, with the final structure being created by filling this mould with calcium carbonate photo-initiated (CCP) ink. The second method involves the support structure being directly printed using the CCP ink.

The researchers said the two processes offer "complementary advantages". Creating a mould means the structure can be easily and quickly reproduced, but the curing process limits the size of the mould.

Direct printing is slower and has a lower resolution, but it allows for individual customization and the creation of larger structures.

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“With 3D printing and moulds, we can get both flexibility and mimicry of what’s already going on in nature,” said Zainab Khan, the study’s other lead author.

“The structure and process can be as close as possible to nature. Our goal is to facilitate that", she added.

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