Study of Volcanic-Ash-Impregnated-Bacteria Filler to the Compressive Strength of Concrete

Abstract

Abstract. Technology of concrete has been advanced recently to improve the properties of concrete. Utilization of ash as the substitute of cement or filler of concrete also indicates good result in compressive strength concrete in certain amount. Harnessing the bacteria for self-healing concrete has also been successfully performed in order to maintain the destruction of the concrete by itself. Past research indicated that bacteria can be beneficiary to improve the compressive strength, absorption, permeability, and so on. In this paper, Bacillus Altitudinis was extracted from the karst (source from the limestone mountain) and bred through liquid media to be impregnated inside the volcanic ash. The impregnated bacteria in volcanic ash were used as the filler to the concrete mixture with the proportion of filler varied from 1%, 1.5% and 2% to the weight of cement. Mechanical properties of the concrete specimen showed that the compressive strength reached its best when the filler proportion was 1.5%. The absorption referred analogously to the increment of compressive strength due to the success of filling the void inside the concrete. Based on compression test to all the concrete specimens, there was enhancement about 18% and the average absorption can be abated around 23%. Future research due to some drawbacks turning up is the need of developing another media for bacteria to live and making sure the exact amount of bacteria impregnated to the media so that the desired advance of concrete compressive strength can be acquired.

Encapsulation Techniques and Test Methods of Evaluating the Bacteria-Based Self-Healing Efficiency of Concrete: A Literature Review

“… Encapsulation in special minerals -diatomaceous earth (DE), zeolite [13,14,26,38]  Encapsulation in nanomaterials -graphene nanoplatelets (GNP), granular activated carbon (GAC), iron-oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) [3,13,29,41,42].  Encapsulation in cementitious materials-Metakaolin-geopolymer coating, limestone powder (LSP), calcium sulphoaluminate powder (CSA), volcanic ash [13,15,30,31,43].  Encapsulation in waste-derived biomass -biochar [16,17] Self-healing of cracks increases the toughness of concrete structures through the autogenous healing properties of cemented materials.…”

“…This healed crack width was largest in comparison to other encapsulation materials. For some bacterial carriers, the healed crack width was not investigated but their effect on bacterial spores were studied [27][28][29][30][31]. Table 2 represents the type of bacterial carrier used by the authors and the corresponding maximum completely healed crack width.…”

Effects of microbial agents to the properties of fly ash-based paste

“…Microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, and algae, responsible for the production of biominerals such as carbonate, silicate, and calcium phosphate [2][3][4] are useful as concrete filler. Bacteria from the genus Bacillus and Sporosarcina are one of the most widely used that has the ability to tolerate high pH, temperature, alkaline conditions, and live inside the concrete [5,6]. It is caused by a precipitate ion of CaCO 3 , from converting urea into ammonium and carbonate [7] and change the properties of the concrete mixtures and soil structures [8,9].…”

“…This type of bacteria forms endospores [10,11], so that it can survive without nutrients and water for hundreds of years [12]. The utilization of bacteria as the healing agent in concrete mixture to form self-healing concrete has been widely investigated [1,5,6,[12][13][14][15]. It is found that the calcium carbonate as microbes product, not only for healing the micro cracks, but also responsible to change the properties of the concrete mixtures [6].…”