Cracks
in concrete are inevitable and are one of the inherent weaknesses of concrete.
Water and other salts seep through these cracks, corrosion initiates, and thus
reduce the life of concrete. So there was a need to develop an inherent bio material, a self-repairing material which can remediate the cracks and
fissures in concrete. Bacterial concrete is a material, which can successfully
remediate cracks in concrete. One way to replace costly manual maintenance and repair is to
incorporate an autonomous self -healing mechanism in concrete. One such an
alternative repair mechanism is currently being studied, i.e. a novel technique
based on the application of bio mineralization of bacteria in concrete. The
application of calcite mineral precipitating bacteria for concrete repair and
plugging of cracks in concrete has proven as a sustainable and self-healing
agent and results from ongoing studies are discussed. Synthetic polymers such
as epoxy treatment are currently being used for repair of concrete are harmful
to the environment, hence use of bacterial concrete is emphasized. It has been
found that microbial mineral precipitation resulting from metabolic activities of certain micro organisms in concrete improves the strength and behaviour of
the concrete. Thus this paper defines the bacterial concrete, chemical process
to fix the cracks by bacteria, advantages and disadvantages and possible
applications of MICP
Keywords—bacterial concrete, MICP, biominerlizaton,
synthetic polymers.
