SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
A team of microbiologists from the Delft University of Technology claims to have invented "bioconcrete" — concrete that heals cracks and breaks using bacteria. The goal was to find a type of bacteria that could live inside concrete and also produce small amount of limestone that could re-seal cracks. This is a difficult prospect because concrete is quite dry and strongly alkaline. The bacteria needed to be able to stay alive for years in those conditions before being activated by water. The bacteria also need a food source — simply adding sugar to concrete will make it weak. The scientists used calcium lactate instead, adding biodegradable capsules of it to the concrete mix. "When cracks eventually begin to form in the concrete, water enters and open the capsules. The bacteria then germinate, multiply and feed on the lactate, and in doing so they combine the calcium with carbonate ions to form calcite, or limestone, which closes up the cracks."
One thing that is left out of the articles mentioned above is the amount of time needed for a given crack to "heal" closed.
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Sunday May 17 2015, @11:04PM
The first test is whether the bacteria can repair cracks faster than the earth moves. Most cracks are created by geological activity/plate tectonics. If the bacteria works faster than that, then it will be very useful in keeping concrete structures crack-free.
Actually, while writing this I realized that there's a big flaw in this. The concrete will crack under stress at its weakest point, which is likely the same point where it cracked before. Even if the rest of the concrete is still "active" and self-repairable, the part that keeps cracking will likely lose its self-repair ability very quickly, rendering the whole thing moot.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!