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you are likely to get answers like ‘gray’, ‘boring’ or ‘dead’. Despite efforts of the
concrete industry to improve the image of the world's most used construction
material, few people would describe concrete as ‘exciting’, ‘natural’, or
‘environmentally friendly’. But this is about to change, as far as Henk Jonkers and
his co-workers from Delft University of Technology are concerned. They managed
to literally bring concrete to life by adding bacteria to the mix. Moreover, they got the
bacteria to repair any developing cracks autonomously [Jonkers et al., Ecol
Eng (2010) 36, 230]. This self-healing ‘Bioconcrete’ promises to make concrete a
more sustainable construction material. Jonkers presented his latest results at the
first EU-US Frontiers of Engineering symposium, which took place in Cambridge last
September.
For every person on earth, more than 1 m3 of concrete is produced every year. This
hunger for concrete has far-reaching consequences, as typically 100 kg of CO2 is
emitted into the atmosphere for the production of one ton of concrete. This is mainly
caused by the use of cement which constitutes concrete, together with water,
aggregate (gravel, sand) and possibly steel reinforcement bars. This is not a bad
figure compared to other common construction materials, such as masonry, steel or
aluminum. Moreover, concrete, during its life, slowly absorbs CO2 in the process of
carbonation, by which Ca(OH)2 in the concrete is converted into CaCO3.
Nevertheless, the amount of concrete that is produced still makes it a significant
source of anthropogenic CO2emissions.
It is therefore no surprise that several strategies have been devised to make
concrete more sustainable. The most straightforward method is to (partially) replace
cement by greener alternatives, such as blast furnace slag or fly ash, which are by-
products of the iron and coal industries, respectively. Another complementary
solution is to increase the lifetime of concrete, thus reducing the need for
replacement materials. Currently, this is achieved by inspecting and repairing the
structure periodically, but this is expensive and time-consuming. Moreover,
degradation of concrete usually begins with microcracks that are hardly visible to the
naked eye, if at all. These cracks themselves do not compromise the structure's
strength, but they slowly grow and at some point allow water and salt to reach the
steel reinforcement. This leads to corrosion and, ultimately, failure of the structure.
For this reason, the Dutch researchers set out to develop self-healing concrete, a
material that repairs itself autonomously upon damage. In their search for the best
additive to perform this seemingly magic trick, they teamed up with some unlikely
allies: bacteria.
The idea to use bacteria for repairing concrete is not entirely new. Even though
concrete is highly alkaline and a hostile environment for most microorganisms, some
alkalophilic Bacillus species have been shown to fill cracks in concrete by producing
calcite (CaCO3). These bacteria, however, have to be applied manually to the crack,
which means that regular inspection of the structure is still needed. Jonkers
managed to incorporate the bacteria and their food supply (calcium lactate) into the
concrete and still keep them viable. In a recent interview on BBC Radio 4 he
explained: “When incorporated in the concrete, the bacteria are in a dormant (spore)
state. This only changes when a crack develops and water starts to seep in. The
water awakens the bacteria, which get to work and start oxidizing calcium lactate,
forming calcite in the process.” The insoluble CaCO3 precipitates on the crack
surface, thus plugging and repairing the crack. As a bonus, the combination of high
pH and bacterially produced CO2 causes the formation of even more carbonate.
Bacterial spores can survive for decades without water or food, and still be woken
up successfully. Ideally, spore-containing concrete should retain its self-healing
properties just as long. However, initially Jonkers found that after just four weeks
Bioconcrete could no longer repair itself. He solved this problem by embedding the
bacteria and their food in clay capsules before mixing them into the concrete. Lab
tests now indicate that using Bioconcrete could extend the lifetime of a structure by
50 years.
The promising results in the lab have attracted the attention of several companies,
which are currently performing pilot studies to investigate the performance of
Bioconcrete under real-life conditions. Jonkers is confident that the first real
structures made of self-healing concrete will be built within a few years. “You will
most likely find the first self-healing concrete structures in places where maintenance
is especially difficult and expensive, such as tunnels or other underground
structures. There, the bacteria can really make a difference.”
TRADUCCION
Para cada persona en la tierra, más de 1 m3 de concreto se produce cada año. Esta
hambre por el concreto tiene consecuencias de largo alcance, ya que típicamente
se emiten a la atmósfera 100 kg de CO2 para la producción de una tonelada de
concreto. Esto se debe principalmente al uso de cemento que constituye hormigón,
junto con agua, agregados (grava, arena) y, posiblemente, barras de refuerzo de
acero. Esta no es una mala figura en comparación con otros materiales de
construcción comunes, como la mampostería, el acero o el aluminio. Además, el
concreto, durante su vida, absorbe lentamente el CO2 en el proceso de
carbonatación, por lo que el Ca (OH) 2 en el concreto se convierte en CaCO3. Sin
embargo, la cantidad de concreto que se produce todavía lo convierte en una fuente
importante de emisiones de CO2 antropogénicas}
Por lo tanto, no es de extrañar que se hayan ideado varias estrategias para hacer
concreto más sostenible. El método más sencillo es (parcialmente) reemplazar el
cemento por alternativas más verdes, como la escoria de alto horno o la ceniza
volante, que son subproductos de las industrias del hierro y el carbón,
respectivamente. Otra solución complementaria es aumentar la vida útil del
concreto, reduciendo así la necesidad de materiales de reemplazo. Actualmente,
esto se logra inspeccionando y reparando la estructura periódicamente, pero esto
es costoso y requiere mucho tiempo. Además, la degradación del concreto
generalmente comienza con microcracks que son apenas visibles a simple vista, si
es que lo hacen. Estas grietas en sí mismas no comprometen la resistencia de la
estructura, pero crecen lentamente y en algún momento permiten que el agua y la
sal alcancen el refuerzo de acero. Esto conduce a la corrosión y, en última instancia,
al fallo de la estructura. Por esta razón, los investigadores holandeses se
propusieron desarrollar concreto autocurativo, un material que se repara de forma
autónoma en caso de daño. En su búsqueda del mejor aditivo para realizar este
truco aparentemente mágico, se asociaron con algunos aliados improbables: las
bacterias.