Use of genetically modified bacteria to repair cracks in concrete

  • Zhigang Zhang
  • , Yiwei Weng
  • , Yuanzhao Ding
  • , Shunzhi Qian

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

28 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this paper, we studied the crack-repair by spraying bacteria-based liquid around the cracks in concrete. To enhance the repair efficiency and speed up the repair process, the transposon mutagenesis method was employed to modify the genes of Bacillus halodurans and create a mutant bacterial strain with higher efficiency of calcium carbonate productivity by catalyzing the combination of carbonate and calcium ion. The efficiency of crack-repairing in concrete by spraying two kinds of bacterial liquid was evaluated via image analysis, X-ray computed tomography (X-CT) scanning technology and the sorptivity test. The results show that the crack-repair efficiency was enhanced very evidently by spraying genetically modified bacterial-liquid as no microbiologically induced calcite precipitation (MICP) was found within the cracks for concrete samples sprayed using wild type bacterial-liquid. In addition, the crack-repair process was also shortened significantly in the case of genetically modified bacteria.

Original languageEnglish
Article number3912
Pages (from-to)3912
Number of pages1
JournalMaterials
Volume12
Issue number23
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2019
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Bacterial technique
  • Concrete
  • Genetic modification
  • Repairing efficiency

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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