Ukrainian Researchers Partner with NSF, US Navy to Turn Debris Into New 3D Printed Buildings

Ukrainian researchers have started a project to try to turn waste from demolished buildings into new 3D printed ones. This is especially relevant in Ukraine, where tens of thousands of buildings have been destroyed by Russia’s war on the country. But, it is also very applicable worldwide. There is a lot of embodied energy, water, and CO2 in existing buildings. Commonly, they are blown up or demolished, and the waste is then carted off to landfill. If this waste could be repurposed locally, it could be a huge environmental and perhaps even economic benefit as well.

Researchers at Kyiv National University of Civil Engineering and Architecture are partnering with the US Office of Naval Research and the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the US. Research partners are Stony Brook University in New York and Poland’s Jan and Jędrzej Sniadecki University of Technology in Bydgoszcz. The project is part of the NSF’s International Multilateral Partnership for the Sustainability of Education and Science in Ukraine (IMPRESS-U), and is called “Development of new approaches and structural materials for the restoration of damaged infrastructure in Ukraine, taking into account environmental sustainability.”

Image courtesy of KNUBA

Once the war is over, the construction requirements will be enormous. A year ago, one estimate concluded that over 210,000 buildings in Ukraine were destroyed by Russia. According to the New York Times, the scale of the destruction is staggering, saying that, “More buildings have been destroyed in Ukraine than if every building in Manhattan were to be leveled four times over.” Additionally, there have been over 1,300 attacks on healthcare institutions, with over 699 clinics and hospitals destroyed. Russia has also intensively targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure by attacking nuclear and thermal power plants. This kind of damage to energy and medical infrastructure is more costly still to repair and rebuild. In the end, the bill will be enormous, so any efficiency gained may help Ukraine in a big way.

Image courtesy of KNUBA

The project hopes to accelerate construction using less people: a commensurate reduction in energy, water, and concrete. It also hopes to turn concrete rubble into building materials. A mix will be made, including a binder, waste material, agricultural waste, and new concrete. The resulting substance could be used for additive construction, but the team hopes that it can be used more broadly in traditional construction as well. Testing will be done in the US, Poland, and Ukraine over the course of two years.

This is a project with a potentially significant impact. If a resulting material will be environmentally beneficial, inexpensive, and safe, it could see immense demand in Ukraine, and perhaps beyond. Syria and other war-torn countries are sure to take an interest as well. Destruction from war is large in scale. Furthermore, earthquakes and other natural disasters affect countries globally each year. But concrete companies do not stand to gain from using mixes containing reused materials. For them, making the same new concrete is far easier and cheaper. With more uniform ingredients moreover, it could be much easier from a process standpoint overall. To then give yourself a much more complex process, more risk, and more effort, while perhaps making less money, is not something any business is inclined to do. Innovation, therefore, is the only way forward in this area.

If Ukraine adopts 3D printed construction at scale, it could be a boon for this nascent market. 3D printing could indeed be the fastest and most efficient technology for quickly building homes in conflict, austere, remote and disaster-stuck areas. Two years ago, COBOD aided in the construction of a school in Ukraine, which now looks astute as well as nice. But otherwise, there is little in the way of proof at scale. In this case, the project with the NSF and the Office of Naval Research could be a watershed moment for 3D printed construction.