BACTERIAL CONCRETE

Guided by:
Mr Rahul Ravi HANSA
Assistant Professor CE7A
Civil Department YCE16CE035
YCET
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CONTENTS
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Self Healing Bacterial Concrete
• Advantages Of Using Bacteria In Concrete
• Various Types of Bacteria Used In Concrete
• Viable Bacteria As Self Healing Agent
• Preparation Of Bacterial Concrete
• Mechanism Of Bacterial Concrete

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Contd..

• SEM Or Scanning Electron Microscopy Examination

• Advantages Of Bacterial Concrete
• Disadvantages Of Bacterial Concrete
• Cost Comparison Of Conventional And Bacterial Concrete
• Conclusion
• Reference

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ABSTRACT
• Cracks in concrete are inevitable and are one of the inherent weakness of
concrete.
• To remediate this type of failure of cracks and fissures, an approach of
using biomineralization in concrete has evolved in recent years.
• As an aftermath of this approach, a type of concrete is developed in which
bacteria is incorporated into concrete.
• To incorporate living matter into the structural material is in itself a great
innovation.

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INTRODUCTION

• Cracking of concrete is an inevitable phenomenon related to durability.

• Repairing of existing cracks has been a subject of research for many
years.
• In recent years, a bacteria based self healing concrete is being developed
to extend the service life.
• Synthetic polymers such as epoxy treatment are currently being used as
filling agents .
• The use of a biological repair technique or microbiologically induced
calcite precipitation technique (MICP) in concrete is focused.

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SELF HEALING BACTERIAL CONCRETE
• Micro cracks with widths typically in the range of 0.05 to 0.1mm have
been observed to become completely sealed autogenously.
• The mechanism of this autogenously healing is due to secondary
hydration of non or partially reacted cement particles in the concrete
matrix.
• Recent research has shown that bacteria can actually be a useful tool to
repair cracks.
• Spore forming bacteria genus Bacillus, supplied with a calcium based
nutrient are incorporated into the concrete.

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Contd..
• The bacteria can act as catalyst for the metabolic conversion of a suitable
organic or inorganic component to produce the filler material.
• The filler material could be bio minerals such as calcite.
• These minerals are relatively dense and can block cracks, and thus hamper
ingress of water efficiently.

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 ADVANTAGES OF USING BACTERIA IN
CONCRETE
• Around five per cent of all man made carbon dioxide emissions are from
the production of concrete.
• Finding a way of prolonging the lifespan of existing structures means we
could reduce this environmental impact.
• Bacteria in concrete fills the crack in an efficient period of time so that the
life period of a concrete structure can be expected over 200 years.
• Prevents the use of cement in future used as a maintenance structure by
drilling and grouting process ,so in this way ,less use of cement can be
seen .

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VARIOUS TYPES OF BACTERIA USED IN CONCRETE
There are various types of bacteria used in construction area

· Bacillus pasteurii
· Bacillus sphaericus
· Bacillus subtilis
· Bacillus cohnii
· Bacillus balodurans
· Bacillus pseudofirmus

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VIABLE BACTERIA AS SELF HEALING AGENT

• For effective self healing, both bacteria and a bio-cement precursor

compound should be integrated in the material matrix.
• When bacterial spores were directly added to the concrete mixture
their lifetime appeared to be limited to one-two months.
• Another concern is whether direct addition of precursor compounds to
the concrete mixture will not result in unwanted loss of other concrete
properties.
• It was found that yeast extract, peptone and calcium acetate resulted in
a dramatic decrease of compressive strength.

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Contd..
• Calcium lactate comprised to be an exception as it resulted in 10%
increase in compressive strength.
• Protection of bacterial spores inside porous expanded clay particles, before
addition to the concrete mixture.
• In this manner, their long term viability as observed in dry state when not
embedded in concrete is maintained.

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PREPARATION OF BACTERIAL CONCRETE
Bacterial concrete can be prepared in two ways:
• By direct application
By the method of direct application bacterial spores and calcium
lactate are added directly while making the concrete and mixed.
• By encapsulation
By encapsulation method the bacteria and it’s food , calcium lactate,
are placed inside treated clay pellets and concrete is made.

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 MECHANISM OF BACTERIAL CONCRETE
• When a concrete structure is damaged and water starts to seep through the
cracks that appear in the concrete , the spores of the bacteria germinate.
• Having been activated, the bacteria starts to feed on the calcium lactate.
• As the bacteria feeds, oxygen is consumed and the soluble calcium lactate
is converted to insoluble limestone.
• The limestone solidifies on the cracked surface thereby sealing it up.
• It mimics the process by which bone fractures in the human body are
naturally healed by osteoblast cells that mineralize to re-form bones

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Contd..
• Ureolytic bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis is able to precipitate calcium
carbonate by converting urea into ammonium and carbonate.
• One mol of urea is hydrolysed intracellularly to one mol of ammonia and
one mol of carbamic acid.
• Carbamic acid spontaneously hydrolysis to form additional one mol of
ammonia and carbonic acid.
• These products equilibrate in water to form bicarbonate, one mol of
ammonium and hydroxide ions.

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Figure 1: Calcite precipitation by bacterial cell 16
Figure 2: Concrete crack before healing and after healing

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SEM OR SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
EXAMINATION
• Bacteria with microbial calcite precipitation in the crack sample
was examined in SEM .
• The sample showed the presence of calcite crystals grown all
over the surface of the crack.
• It also showed the presence of Bacillus pasteurii bacteria.
• This is the evidence that suggests microbial remediation
properties of bacterial concrete.

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ADVANTAGES OF BACTERIAL CONCRETE
• Microbial concrete in crack remediation
• Improvement in compressive strength of concrete
• Better resistance towards freeze-thaw attack
• Reduction in permeability of concrete
• Reduction in corrosion of reinforced concrete

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DISADVANTAGES OF BACTERIAL
CONCRETE
• Cost of bacterial concrete is double than conventional concrete
• The clay pellets holding the self-healing agent comprise 20%
of the volume of the concrete.
• Design of mix concrete with bacteria is not available in IS code.
• Investigation of calcite precipitate is costly

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COST COMPARISON OF CONVENTIONAL AND
BACTERIAL CONCRETE
• The cost of self-healing concrete is about double that of conventional
concrete
• Self-healing concrete would only be a viable product for certain civil
engineering structures.
• If produced on an industrial scale it is thought that the self- healing
concrete could come down in cost considerably.
• If the life of the structure can be extended by 30%, the doubling in
the cost of the actual concrete would still save a lot of money in the
longer term.

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Contd..

• A second self-healing agent that will be much cheaper and also would
result in much stronger concrete is being developed.
• Presently the majority of the extra cost comes from the calcium lactate
which is very expensive.
• The process of embedding the bacteria and nutrients into the pellets is
also expensive because it involves a vacuum technique.
• A sugar-based food nutrient would potentially bring down the cost

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CONCLUSION
• Bacterial concrete technology has proved to be better because of
its eco- friendly nature.
• Work of various researchers has improved our understanding on
the possibilities and limitations of biotechnological applications on
building materials.
• Enhancement of compressive strength, reduction in permeability,
water absorption, reinforced corrosion.

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Contd..
• In bacterial concrete interconnectivity of pores is disturbed due to
plugging of pores with calcite crystals.

• This will soon provide the basis for high quality structures that will
be cost effective and environmentally safe.
• More work is required to improve the feasibility of this technology
from both an economical and practical viewpoints.

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REFERENCES
• Sakina Najmuddin Saifee, Divya Maheshbhai Lad, Jayesh Rameshbhai
Juremalani. Critical appraisal on Bacterial Concrete, IJRDO-Journal Of
Mechanical And Civil Engineering, ISSN: 2456-1479, Volume-1, Issue-
3.
• Meera C.M, Dr.Subha V. Strength and Durability assessment Of
Bacteria Based Self-Healing Concrete. IOSR Journal of Mechanical and
Civil Engineering, e-ISSN: 2278-1684.
• Ravindranatha, N. Kannan, Likhit M. L .Self healing material bacterial
concrete, International Journal of Research in Engineering and
Technology, Volume: 03,Special Issue: 03.

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• A.T.Manikandan, A.Padmavathi. An Experimental Investigation
on Improvement of Concrete
• Serviceability by using Bacterial Mineral Precipitation Volume II,
Issue III.
• Jagadeesha Kumar B G, R Prabhakara, Pushpa H. Effect Of
Bacterial Calcite Precipitation On Compressive Strength Of
Mortar Cube, International Journal of Engineering and Advanced
Technology (IJEAT), ISSN: 2249 – 8958, Volume-2, Issue-3,
February 2013,PP 486-491
• RA. B. Depaa and T. Felix Kala Experimental Investigation of
Self Healing Behavior of Concrete using Silica Fume and GGBFS
as Mineral Admixtures Indian Journal of Science and Technology,
Vol 8(36), DOI: 0.17485/ijst/2015/v8i36/87644.

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