Engineering Microbial-Induced Carbonate Precipitation
This project investigates self-healing materials that self-repair as a result of the metabolic activity of bacteria.
Project leader
Dr Dana Ofiteru
Dr Enrico Masoero
Dates
September 2019 to August 2022
Sponsors
EPSRC
Partners
Northumbrian Water Group plc
Description
The main mechanism of concrete healing is the microbial-induced precipitation of calcium carbonate (MICP). This fills the cracks of the damaged material.
But this current approach in microbial self-healing concrete technology only identifies a few species of bacteria for the job. These bacteria work for limited sets of concretes and environments.
This approach optimises the bacteria's MICP performance incrementally by experiments. This leads to solutions that are poorly transferable to new applications. Unless new costly experimental campaigns are undertaken.
In this project we aim to provide a new theoretical basis to predict the most promising combinations of bacteria and concrete.
We will identify the application-specific chemical compositions of the concrete of the surrounding environment.
This will establish a new paradigm for the digital design of concrete-bacteria systems. It will enable technology transfer across the construction sector.