Microbial Concrete, a Wonder Metabolic Product That Remediates the Defects in Building Structures

Microbes play key geoactive roles in the biosphere, particularly in the areas of element biotransformations, biogeochemical cycling and mineral transformations and formations. Recently, the ability of bacteria to produce minerals such as carbonates has been studied in detail with various uses in civ...

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Main Authors: Reddy, M., Achal, V., Mukherjee, Abhijit
Other Authors: T. Satyanarayana
Format: Book Chapter
Published: Springer 2012
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/33142
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author Reddy, M.
Achal, V.
Mukherjee, Abhijit
author2 T. Satyanarayana
author_facet T. Satyanarayana
Reddy, M.
Achal, V.
Mukherjee, Abhijit
author_sort Reddy, M.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Microbes play key geoactive roles in the biosphere, particularly in the areas of element biotransformations, biogeochemical cycling and mineral transformations and formations. Recently, the ability of bacteria to produce minerals such as carbonates has been studied in detail with various uses in civil engineering. Natural processes, such as weathering, faults, land subsidence, earthquakes, andhuman activities create fractures and fi ssures in concrete structures, which can reduce the service life of the structures. ‘Microbial Concrete’ a novel metabolic byproduct of microbially induced calcite precipitation by way of urease (urea hydrolyzing enzyme) presents a promising novel biotechnology for the enhancement of durability of building materials and structures. The ubiquity and importance ofmicrobes in inducing calcite precipitation make “microbial concrete” a most important metabolic product of biomineralization that can remediate and restore such structures. Urease producing bacteria when added to cement, helps in the improvement of compressive strength, reduction of permeability and reduced corrosion rate of reinforced structure. The promising results using this metabolic product encouraged different research groups world wide and in-depth studies of these different approaches have been discussed in this chapter. The methodologies to such approach have also been discussed. The present chapter suggests a potential use of the microbially induced calcite precipitation process with environmental signifi cance as a safe consolidation tool in remediation of defects in building structures and towards enhancement in its service life.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-331422023-02-07T08:01:19Z Microbial Concrete, a Wonder Metabolic Product That Remediates the Defects in Building Structures Reddy, M. Achal, V. Mukherjee, Abhijit T. Satyanarayana Bhavdish Narain Johri Microbes play key geoactive roles in the biosphere, particularly in the areas of element biotransformations, biogeochemical cycling and mineral transformations and formations. Recently, the ability of bacteria to produce minerals such as carbonates has been studied in detail with various uses in civil engineering. Natural processes, such as weathering, faults, land subsidence, earthquakes, andhuman activities create fractures and fi ssures in concrete structures, which can reduce the service life of the structures. ‘Microbial Concrete’ a novel metabolic byproduct of microbially induced calcite precipitation by way of urease (urea hydrolyzing enzyme) presents a promising novel biotechnology for the enhancement of durability of building materials and structures. The ubiquity and importance ofmicrobes in inducing calcite precipitation make “microbial concrete” a most important metabolic product of biomineralization that can remediate and restore such structures. Urease producing bacteria when added to cement, helps in the improvement of compressive strength, reduction of permeability and reduced corrosion rate of reinforced structure. The promising results using this metabolic product encouraged different research groups world wide and in-depth studies of these different approaches have been discussed in this chapter. The methodologies to such approach have also been discussed. The present chapter suggests a potential use of the microbially induced calcite precipitation process with environmental signifi cance as a safe consolidation tool in remediation of defects in building structures and towards enhancement in its service life. 2012 Book Chapter http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/33142 10.1007/978-94-007-2229-3_24 Springer restricted
spellingShingle Reddy, M.
Achal, V.
Mukherjee, Abhijit
Microbial Concrete, a Wonder Metabolic Product That Remediates the Defects in Building Structures
title Microbial Concrete, a Wonder Metabolic Product That Remediates the Defects in Building Structures
title_full Microbial Concrete, a Wonder Metabolic Product That Remediates the Defects in Building Structures
title_fullStr Microbial Concrete, a Wonder Metabolic Product That Remediates the Defects in Building Structures
title_full_unstemmed Microbial Concrete, a Wonder Metabolic Product That Remediates the Defects in Building Structures
title_short Microbial Concrete, a Wonder Metabolic Product That Remediates the Defects in Building Structures
title_sort microbial concrete, a wonder metabolic product that remediates the defects in building structures
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/33142