New Experimental Approaches to Sand Hardening by Microbial Biocalcification
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
In recent years, together with the increasing population, there has been a rapid growth in the construction sector inorder to meet housing needs. This growth led to the rapid development of the cement industry. In the process ofincreasing industrialization, biotechnological processes are becoming more important. The most importantalternative to the cement industry is the microbial bio-calcification process. In this process, cement-like structuresare produced by bacteria at room temperature conditions. Microbial bio-calcification processes have attracted theinterest of researchers especially in the process of self-healing in recent years as an alternative and nature-friendlysolution to the cement production processes that are being produced at high temperatures. This study is anoptimization of an innovative, environmentally friendly and biotechnological method for the construction andcement industry. Different production surfaces was used for sand hardening with Sporosarcina pasteurii such asagar plates, filter paper and polyurethane support materials. The effect of different CaCl2 concentrations (25 mM,50 mM and 100 mM) and sand thickness (1 mm, 5 mm and 10 mm) was also tested. CaCO3 was determined byFTIR and measured by chemical analysis. In addition, the hardness and integrity of the samples were observed.Agar and polyurethane support materials were found to be more effective in terms of support material for sandhardening. Increased thickness reduced the hardness and 50 mM CaCl2 concentration was found to be optimumfor these types of processes. This study shows the effects of sand hardness on innovative, environmentally friendlyand biotechnological approach optimization.