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Ureolysis and denitrification based microbial strategies for self-healing concrete

  • Ghent University
  • Strategic Initiative Materials (SIM)

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Ureolysis and denitrification were examined for microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation and concrete self-healing. In a first set of experiments, the immobilization of Bacillus sphaericus, an ureolytic strain, with Diatomaceous Earth (DE) and its crack healing efficiency were investigated. The ureolytic activity of DE immobilized bacteria was found to be much higher than that of non-immobilized bacteria (12-17 g/L urea degradation and 1 g/L urea degradation in 3 days, respectively) in cement slurry. Cracks with a width ranging from 0.15 to 0.17mm in the specimens containing DE immobilized bacteria were completely healed within 40 days. The specimens having bacteria showed 70% less water absorption than the reference specimens after healing. Denitrifiers (9 unique strains) were selected from soil and exposed to dehydration stress in minimal medium. The capability of denitrifiers to re-activate after dehydration and precipitate CaCO3 in a minimal medium enriched with nitrate (NO3) and calcium (Ca2+) ionswere tested. A calcium carbonate (CaCO3) precipitation yield of 4.8-6.7 g CaCO3/g NO3 was obtained.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationConcrete Solutions - Proceedings of Concrete Solutions, 5th International Conference on Concrete Repair
PublisherCRC Press/Balkema
Pages59-64
Number of pages6
ISBN (Print)9781138027084
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014
Externally publishedYes
Event5th International Conference on Concrete Repair - Belfast, United Kingdom
Duration: 1 Sep 20143 Sep 2014

Publication series

NameConcrete Solutions - Proceedings of Concrete Solutions, 5th International Conference on Concrete Repair

Conference

Conference5th International Conference on Concrete Repair
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityBelfast
Period1/09/143/09/14

Keywords

  • Crack
  • Denitrification
  • Self-healing

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