Florida Atlantic University 3D-Prints Seaweed Structures to Fight Harmful Algal Blooms

Harmful algal blooms have become a recurring crisis in Florida, and Lake Okeechobee sits at the center of it. A new project from Florida Atlantic University aims to stop the blooms before they start, using an unexpected combination of 3D printing, seaweed, and artificial intelligence.

The Phosphorus Problem

Excess phosphorus is the main fuel for toxic algal blooms. It enters lakes through agricultural runoff, wastewater, failing septic systems, and stormwater. Once it is in the water, conventional cleanup methods either generate mountains of chemical sludge or require tightly controlled biological systems that are hard to maintain in open water.

Florida Atlantic University received an $800,475 grant from the Gulf of America Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop a different approach. The three-year project, which began on July 1, will create durable 3D-printed adsorbent structures made from sargassum, a naturally abundant seaweed, modified with lanthanum to capture phosphorus from both the water column and lake sediments.

Why 3D Printing

The key advantage of the 3D-printed structures is that they are retrievable. Traditional phosphorus treatments use fine powders that settle into sediment and can slowly release lanthanum back into the environment. By printing the sargassum and lanthanum mixture into solid, recoverable forms, the FAU team can deploy the structures, let them absorb phosphorus, pull them out, regenerate them, and reuse them.

That reusability changes the economics and the environmental footprint of the treatment. It also means the technology scales better than single-use chemical or biological methods.

AI Picks the Deployment Spots

Artificial intelligence will guide two critical parts of the project. First, machine learning models will screen different adsorbent formulations to find the ones that capture phosphorus fastest and most completely. Second, AI will analyze environmental data, including land use, weather, fertilizer applications, and septic system locations, to predict where deploying the structures will have the greatest impact.

The testbed is Lake Okeechobee. Because the lake feeds into the Gulf of America watershed, improvements there ripple across rivers, estuaries, and coastal ecosystems throughout the region.

A Scalable Model

The project is designed to be transferable. Once the team validates the approach in Florida, the dataset and methodology will be shared through the U.S. EPA's Water Quality Exchange so other communities can adapt the system to their own lakes and reservoirs.

It is a rare research story where advanced manufacturing, materials science, and environmental policy all pull in the same direction. If the field tests work, 3D-printed seaweed structures could become a standard tool for nutrient management across the United States and beyond.