What You Should Know About Bacterial, Self-Healing Concrete

One incredible new advancement in concrete repair is called self-healing bacterial concrete. This concrete material is incredibly unique as it incorporates bacteria from the bacillus family, along with calcium, nitrogen and phosphorus along with the concrete ingredients. The bacteria can live inactive in concrete for over 200 years in dry conditions. When cracks form and moisture is let in, the bacteria acts as a healing agent by creating a layer of limestone to fill the crack.

This incredible advancement can help to save incredible amounts of money in infrastructure repairs. This material is still quite new in its usage but if it were to become more widely used, it will have tremendous benefits to the planet and reduction of fossil fuel emissions.

Concrete is well known for its strength under compression but not its tensile strength. Over time it will degrade and crack, so by using a more sustainable, self-healing bacterial concrete, less time, money and waste will be spent on regular repairs.