College
Judy Genshaft Honors College
Mentor Information
tpiracci@usf.edu
Description
Nutrient pollution from urban stormwater and agricultural runoff drives eutrophication in coastal wetlands, threatening the ecological function of ecosystems that communities depend on for water quality, flood resilience, and habitat. Floating treatment wetlands offer a nature-based intervention, but conventional planting media provide limited nutrient adsorption capacity and little opportunity for design optimization at scale. This study investigates whether biochar, a porous, high-surface-area carbon material, can be incorporated into extrudable biocomposites to enhance ammonium, nitrate, and phosphate adsorption in floating wetland applications, while remaining safe for sustained contact with wetland plant roots. Four biochar composite recipes were fabricated as standardized cylindrical tokens at 20% biochar by dry mass: ceramic, cementitious limestone, polyvinyl alcohol-sodium alginate, and methylcellulose. Eight tokens were tested using analytic chemistry techniques to evaluate nutrient removal efficiency of each recipe and a control. This study identifies the need for further research on a binder matrix that will preserve biochar's native adsorption capacity while remaining structurally intact and ecologically inert, establishing a material foundation for future 3D-printed floating wetland infrastructure. Findings will directly inform scalable fabrication strategies at the micro level for nutrient remediation in Tampa Bay area wetlands, bridging material science, ecological engineering, and community-centered restoration design.
Evaluating Biochar Composites for 3D Printing Wetland Restoration Media
Nutrient pollution from urban stormwater and agricultural runoff drives eutrophication in coastal wetlands, threatening the ecological function of ecosystems that communities depend on for water quality, flood resilience, and habitat. Floating treatment wetlands offer a nature-based intervention, but conventional planting media provide limited nutrient adsorption capacity and little opportunity for design optimization at scale. This study investigates whether biochar, a porous, high-surface-area carbon material, can be incorporated into extrudable biocomposites to enhance ammonium, nitrate, and phosphate adsorption in floating wetland applications, while remaining safe for sustained contact with wetland plant roots. Four biochar composite recipes were fabricated as standardized cylindrical tokens at 20% biochar by dry mass: ceramic, cementitious limestone, polyvinyl alcohol-sodium alginate, and methylcellulose. Eight tokens were tested using analytic chemistry techniques to evaluate nutrient removal efficiency of each recipe and a control. This study identifies the need for further research on a binder matrix that will preserve biochar's native adsorption capacity while remaining structurally intact and ecologically inert, establishing a material foundation for future 3D-printed floating wetland infrastructure. Findings will directly inform scalable fabrication strategies at the micro level for nutrient remediation in Tampa Bay area wetlands, bridging material science, ecological engineering, and community-centered restoration design.
