INTERSPECIES COLLABORATION
What if we rethink the way we interact with different species around us? Approaching a collaborative effort between species to bioremediate our environment. Bivalves like oysters and mussels have been doing bioremediation for centuries, they have as a natural process the ability to clean the ocean waters from pollutants. With the exponential growth of industries and byproducts of human activities, we are more in need of solutions that can restore the natural ecosystems around us. Instead of approaching natural systems from a human position let's try combining efforts with nature in order to provide solutions that are resilient and non invasive.
We decided to test their ability to remediate water with a simple experiment. We recollected water from the Barcelona port and divided it into 3 containers. The first one had live oysters, second one had oyster shells and last one just water to serve as a control sample.
After 12 hours we checked the levels of ph and nitrate in them to see if there were any evident changes. Visually nothing could be seen but these indicators (ph and nO3) could give us a more accurate answer regarding the efficiency of the bioremediation.
When we tested the samples we realized a significant change was made in the ph of the live oysters, making them the best ones for bioremediation. Just the shells didn't do much of a difference but still managed to change slightly the levels in the water.
MATERIALS FOR BIOREMEDIATION
We wanted to explore the ability of the shells themselves to bioremediate water. There is a great amount of seafood waste generated everyday. With this exploration we searched for a way in which we could close this lifecycle and create a material out of the seashells which could then be implemented into other objects that could help bioremediate our marine ecosystems. With the results we got from the test we realised this was not an efficient solution but made us question how we could use that material for another type of application like an everyday object.
3D PRINTING BIOMATERIALS
We decided to test 3D printing as a fabrication method for our oyster paste. After deciding on a recipe we had to wash, boil, oven dry, shred and grind our oyster shells. Getting the correct consistency was a challenge. The paste we had was very grainy which made it complicated for the printer to release the material with flow. After some arrangements and change of settings we managed to 3D print a vase as a first exploration on what a material made out of oyster shells would look like.
These tests helped us realise how complicated it is to work with biomaterials and 3D printing. Nonetheless we came up with a useful object which can be improved in order to create objects from shells that are discarded from seafood and give them a new purpose.
