A collaboration between Southeast University Nanjing and ETH Zürich has resulted in the development of an innovative Algae Reactor, a 3D printed module designed to cleanse indoor air and cultivate chlorella biomass. The module, fabricated with recycled PETG (rPETG), integrates seamlessly into building façades, offering a sustainable solution to urban air quality challenges.
The Algae Reactor project, led by researchers Hao Hua and Benjamin Dillenburger, aims to incorporate nature into our built environment. This cutting-edge technology involves the creation of an algae reactor, a 3D printed façade module that purifies air for city dwellers and produces algal biomass regularly. Inspired by projects like Photo.Synth.Etica and SolarLeaf, the reactor stimulates microbiological cycles within buildings.
The skin module, composed of 3D printed rPETG, holds culture tubes and renders the façade translucent. Each module consists of a hybrid framework and an algae culture system. The framework, made of vertical and horizontal aluminum profiles, supports the 3D printed skin with grooves, slim solar panels for the pump battery, and fasteners.
These modules can be attached to the interior of windows or glass curtain walls. Transparent corrugated tubes containing water and chlorella are mounted onto the grooves of the 3D printed skin. The groove profile matches the tube diameter, allowing for easy removal when harvesting biomass or replacing the tube.
The pipeline along the grooves is designed to ensure slow and smooth airflow from bottom to top. A matrix of modules behind a transparent curtain wall maintains biochemical processes to improve indoor air quality and adds a green tint to the façade while regulating light intensity indoors.
The algae culture system includes a convoluted tube, an air pump with a battery at the bottom, and an anti-overflow funnel at the top. Chlorella liquid fills the tube, and the air pump draws indoor air into it at intervals. Integrated solar panels make the module independent of the building’s electricity supply.
The Algae Reactor enables photosynthesis inside the tubular liquid to interact with indoor air efficiently. Every three or four weeks, the tube is removed from the module to collect biomass and replace the water and chlorella. Large-scale Fused Granulate Fabrication (FGF) technology is used to 3D print the complex module body, with a pellet extruder mounted onto a KUKA robot arm to ensure structural stability and precise details.
Transparent recycled PETG (rPETG) granules are used to print the skin with grooves. The layered filaments and differentiated geometry convert direct sunlight into scattered light, promoting algae growth.
The Algae Reactor gently introduces biochemical processes into the built environment, demonstrating how ancillary window modules can purify indoor air and produce sustainable food or medicine. The natural green of the microalgae provides visual comfort, suggesting benefits for both city dwellers and nature through new forms of indoor gardening within a hybrid system of biology and architecture.
Source: parametric-architecture.com
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