海角社区

 

Coral reefs face many threats these days and are dying at an alarming rate. Scientists predict that up to 90% of coral reefs could vanish by 2050, and up to half of the world鈥檚 coral reefs have already been lost or severely damaged. Wanting to protect coastlines and promote the growth of coral reefs and marine life, two 海角社区 Engineering alumni created a company called Natrx whose mission is to use sustainable technologies for resilience challenges. 

鈥淲hat鈥檚 damaging coral reefs are overfishing, runoff, sediment loading, and anything that degrades water quality,鈥� Natrx co-founder Tyler Ortego said. 鈥淭he oceans are warming as well, which is having its own impact.鈥�

Ortego is a cofounder of Natrx, a company he and fellow 海角社区 Biological Engineering alumnus Matt Campbell founded to build on the success of a business they had created in 2005 after Campbell did a project for 海角社区 on the subject of coastal restoration. 

鈥淭his business started off as Matt鈥檚 senior design project and then his masters project,鈥� Ortego said. 鈥淲e ended up getting some patents for structures and a material used to grow oyster reefs into breakwaters. Many years later, we were trying to make our business better and more customizable for the different habitats, and we stumbled upon a totally new way of forming concrete. 

Ortego and Campbell designed their own reef material through DryForming, a process that creates durable, customizable reef modules that oysters, corals and other organisms can attach to, preserving wildlife and its habitat. 

鈥淚f you鈥檙e in an estuary, oysters will expand the shape and size of the reef once they attach to it,鈥� Ortego said. 鈥淚f we get oyster growth, the reefs can actually grow vertically faster than sea level rise.鈥� 

鈥淥ysters are phenomenal at stopping erosion,鈥� Campbell said. 

DryForming uses dry concrete mix that is then robotically injected with a precise volume of water at each node location to create diffusion balls that harden. Wherever the balls overlap is the shape of the structure, giving it a bulbous, natural look. The location and volume of the water injection is controlled by the 3D design file for that shape. The process takes 30 minutes to an hour for one 3,500-lb. box and allows Natrx to produce any shape they want to mimic a specific environment. 

鈥淚f you have big waves and currents, you need weight,鈥� Ortego said. 鈥淚f you have soft soils, you need less weight. Different organisms need different voids or surface features.鈥�

Natrx calls the DryFormed pieces 鈥淓xoForms,鈥� colorfully named 鈥淐ajun Coral鈥� by their collaborators down the bayou. Each ExoForm is just under 3 feet in each dimension and can be laid out into linear structures, such as their largest order to date for Ducks Unlimited where they printed 3,333 pieces equating to almost two miles along the shoreline. 

Natrx鈥檚 first installation was done in Golden Meadow, La., in 2020, and was followed by other state projects in Port Fouchon, Pointe-aux-Chene, Grand Isle, Cocodrie, and South Marsh Island. Since then, they have shipped ExoForms to Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Texas, Florida, Illinois, New York City, and Hawaii, where they are gearing up for a large coral reef restoration off of Waikiki Beach this summer.  

鈥淲e鈥檒l make the reefs right here in Louisiana and ship them over the ocean where they will be precisely set in their final location,鈥� Ortego said. 鈥淲e can reach anywhere in the world from our Resilience Center of Excellence in Amelia.鈥�  

Raising Cane鈥檚 founder Todd Graves has even supported four Natrx projects, including one called Hotel Sid, a popular fishing spot near an oil rig. 

Through Natrx, Ortego and Campbell have also made a connection with another company run by 海角社区 Engineering alumni鈥擠anos. When they first started Natrx, Ortego and Campbell went through a program called Energy X, which had partnered with Shell and was sourcing coastal construction or nature-based resilience. Natrx鈥檚 contact at Shell said they loved what Natrx was doing and wanted them to partner with their number one service provider. 

鈥淣ow we have a formal partnership with Danos, and it gets better every day,鈥� Ortego said. 

For Ortego, who grew up exploring the outdoors of St. Landry Parish, Natrx鈥檚 mission is personal. 

鈥淚 grew up going to Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge (in Cameron and Vermillion parishes),鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat was our spot where you had water-control structures where you could catch crabs, throw a cast net for shrimp, and catch fish all in the same place. The refuge is disappearing at an incredible rate. We鈥檙e working on some engineering for the refuge and already have some prototypes in the inner canal that are growing oysters that maintain the banks.鈥�

Natrx states that their goal is to become the default way people think about coastal resilience and habitat restoration. 

鈥淲e want to protect miles of shoreline and grow billions of oysters and corals, and have robust economies,鈥� Ortego said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e protecting fisheries, recreation and tourism for coastal communities. Our technologies are providing solutions that allow people to live in harmony with nature.鈥�

For more information on Natrx, visit .

*ExoForm, DryForming and derivatives are trademarks of Natrx, Inc.