International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056

Volume: 06 Issue: 09 | Sep 2019 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

A Review Paper on Application of Bacillus Subtilis Bacteria for

Improving Properties and Healing of Cracks in Concrete
Shrikant Rajendra Muramkar1, Prof. Manish Bhatkar 2
1Dept. of Civil Engineering, JCOET Yavatmal, India
2Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, JCOET Yavatmal, India
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Abstract - Self healing concrete is a bacterial concrete which industry as a challenging composition for self repairing and
heals itself automatically without any maintenance. When the incrementing the compressive strength of the concrete.
cracks formed in concrete it comes in contact with air, water Bacterial concrete also plays the helping role in a seismic
and moisture, bacteria gets activated and forms lime as a zone at a primary stage.
result cracks heals itself. Building requires less maintenance as
well as more durability, corrosive resistance and it is fulfill by 2. THE BACTERIA-BACILLUS SUBTILIS:
the bacterial concrete. Now a days, Bacterial concrete has
been accepted in the construction industry as a challenging Firstly bacillus subtilis is known as Vibrio subtilis, this
composition for self repairing and incrementing the bacteria was discovered by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg in
compressive strength of the concrete. 1835. It was renamed in 1872 by Ferdinand Cohn. Bacillus
subtilis (B. subtilis) is a Gram-positive, aerobic bacteria. It
Key Words: Bacterial concrete, Bacillus subtilis, is rod-shaped.
Calcium lactate
 Bacillus Subtilis is a non-pathogenic and non-
1.INTRODUCTION: toxicogenic bacteria.

Cracks in concrete is a phenomenon that can hardly  Self healing property of a concrete is achieved by
be complete avoided due to shrinkage reactions of setting introducing the Bacillus Subtilis bacteria into a
concrete and tensile stresses occurring in set structures. concrete matrix during mixing.
Durability of concrete is impaired by these cracks since they
provide an easy path for the transportation of liquids and
gasses that potentially contain harmful substances. If micro-
cracks grow and reach the reinforcement, not only the
concrete itself may be attacked, but also the reinforcement
will be corroded.

Adopting bacteria induced carbonate precipitation to fill

the cracks is very innovative. The microbial precipitation
depends on several factors including the concentration of
dissolved inorganic carbon, the PH, and the concentration of
calcium ions and the presence of nucleation sites. Also, when
Bacteria are used to work for the healing of cracks in
concrete, the major hindering factor is the high alkaline  When a crack formed in the concrete surface, the
environment of concrete, restricting the growth of the ingress water reacts with the bacteria and which in
bacteria. Therefore, necessary measures need to be taken to turn produce Calcium carbonate (caco3) which is a
protect bacteria in concrete. main composition of lime.

When the cracks formed in concrete it comes in contact  Since, the bacteria need a food to survive so we
with air, water and moisture. Due the interaction of moisture chose Calcium lactate as a chemical precursor to do
or water with bacteria, the bacteria gets activated and forms the work.
lime as a result cracks heals itself. Similarly, Bacterial
concrete provides more compressive strength. Bacillus 3. LITERATURE REVIEW:
Subtilis has the great potential to heal the cracks in concrete S. Sanjay, S. Neha, and R. Jasvir (2016),This paper was
surface and thereby enhancing th durability of a concrete presented the experimental investigation on bacterial
structure or an element. concrete to increase the strength of bio concrete and to
inform the process involved in the bacterial concrete. To
By the use of Bacterial concrete buildings requires less
know the calcite crystals formed in bacterial concrete
maintenance as well as more durability, corrosive resistance
analysis of microstructure has been done that is used for the
and it is fulfill by the bacterial concrete. Now a days,
potential to recovery the cracks in bacterial concrete and
Bacterial concrete has been accepted in the construction
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 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 06 Issue: 09 | Sep 2019 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

also to inform the biological reaction in concrete. As a result, compared to conventional concrete which is critical in
has been got because of good adaptability of nutrient broth determining the economic feasibility of the technology, is
medium of bio concrete at 28 days attained better strength also studied. The cost analysis showed an increase in cost of
when compared to urea medium [1]. 2.3 to 3.9 times between microbial concrete and
conventional concrete with decrease of grade. And nutrients
A. Thakur, A. Phogat, K. Singh (2016), This paper has such as inexpensive, high protein- containing industrial
presented the overview of several paper in the current years wastes such as corn steep liquor (CSL) or lactose mother
on the use of bio concrete for improving in the mechanical liquor (LML) effluent from starch industry can also be used,
properties, durability and permeation features of normal so that overall process cost reduces dramatically.
concrete. They have been studies the analysis on bio Precipitation of these crystals inside the gel matrix also
concrete by XRD and SEM tests and also several types of enhances the durability of concrete significantly.
bacteria’s, their isolation process, several methods used in Furthermore, this analysis has shown an increase in the cost
the adding of bacterial species in concrete and their of production and a significant decrease in carbon footprint
belongings on water absorption and compressive strength. compared to conventional concrete[5].
Finally, they concluded the bacterial type such as B. cereus
and S. pasteurii extreme rise in the compressive strength and Ramakrishnan et al, (2001) proposed a novel technique in
the maximum reduce in water absorption for 28 days curing remediating cracks and fissures in concrete by
period of specimen respectively. The bacterial like bacillus microbiologically inducing calcite precipitation.
sphaericus, B. pasteurii, and Bacillus flexus are not harm the Microbiologically induced calcite precipitation is a technique
human body and also, they have the potential to precipitate that comes under a broader category of science called
calcite but some other bacterial species is dangerous for biomineralization. Bacillus pasteurii, a common soil
human health [2]. bacterium can induce the precipitates of calcite. As a
microbial sealant, Calcite exhibited its positive potential in
N. Amudhavalli, K. Keerthana and A. Ranjani (2015), this selectively consolidating simulated fractures and surface
paper has presented the overview of bacterial concrete, fissures in granites and in the consolidation of sand. MICP is
bacteria the state of art results in all projects show that highly desirable chemical reaction because the calcite
material designed as self-healing agents. Some of the precipitation induced is a result of microbial activities. The
bacteria is drawbacks not directly functional in construction technique can be used to improve the compressive strength
structure like houses and offices because of health concerns and stiffness of cracked concrete specimens. A durability
this bacteria like B. Pasteuri, B. megaterium, B. subtilis. study on concrete beams treated with bacteria, exposed to
Lastly, they achieve that bacterium that have used in alkaline, sulfate and freeze-thaw environments was studied
concrete in better way because of their advantages than by him. The effect of different concentrations of bacteria on
other bacteria that are B. Sphaericus and Eschericheria Coli the durability of concrete was also studied by him. It was
[3]. found that all the beams with bacteria performed better than
the control beams (without bacteria). The durability
N. Chahal and R.Siddique (2008) this study has been performance increased with increase in the concentration of
presented that with use of Sporosarcina pasteurii which bacteria. Microbial calcite precipitation was quantified by X-
would make it, self-healing. They observed that newly ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and visualized by SEM. The
formed cracks healed by the presence of bacteria. In the unique imaging and microanalysis capabilities of SEM
concrete mix 10%, 20% and 30% and also 5% and 10% established the presence of calcite precipitation inside
dosage of fly ash and silica fume respectively replacing cracks, rod shaped bacterial impressions and a new calcite
cement in the bacterial solution of 103, 105 and 107 layer on the surface of concrete. This calcite layer improves
cells/ml. They did tests on the water absorption and the impermeability of the specimen, thus increasing its
porosity, chloride permeability and compressive strength by resistance to alkaline, sulfate and freeze-thaw attack [6].
using up to age 91 days. They concluded that by the presence
of S. pasteruii increase compressive strength, cut downs the 4. SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES OF WORK:
permeability and porosity of silica fume and fly ash concrete
[4]. FROM DETAILED LITERATURE REVIEW THE FOLLOWING
POINTS ARE EVIDENCE:
V Srinivasa Reddy, M V SeshagiriRaoand S Sushma8, have
published a paper on Feasibility Study on Bacterial Concrete  Develop bacterial concrete by introducing the bacteria’s of
as an innovative self crack healing system. This paper bacillus family.
describes about the effect of bacterial cell concentration of
Bacillus subtilis JC3, on the strength, by determining the To find optimum dosage of bacteria required for bacterial
compressive strength of standard cement mortar cubes of concrete.
different grades, incorporated with various bacterial cell
concentrations. This shows that the Improvement in  To increase compressive strength of concrete.
compressive strength reaches a maximum at about 105/ml
cell concentration. The cost of using microbial concrete  To remediate the cracks developed in concrete.

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 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 06 Issue: 09 | Sep 2019 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

 To study the durability of concrete under various producing concrete of required minimum strength,
weathering conditions. To check the performance of bacillus workability and durability as economically as
subtilis by durability test. possible.

 To verify the performance of bacillus subtilis with 1mm • Mixing, Casting and Curing:
and 2mm crack width and 15mm, 20mm, 25mm, and 30mm
crack depth. Mixing:

CRACK COMPARISON BETWEEN BACTERIAL CONCRETE Mixing is done with the cement, sand and aggregate
AND CONVENTIONL CONCRETE in the proportion of 1:2:2 (M25 Grade) with respective
proportion of bacteria.

Casting:

A total 18 cubes and 18 cylinders were casting for

performing the Compressive strength and Tensile strength
including both with and without bacteria concrete.

Curing:

The cubes and cylinders are kept immersed in water for

curing at the intervals of 7 days, 14 days and 28 days.

5. IMPORTANCE: Preliminary test of the concrete using Bacteria:

• It gets automatically activated and heals the Compression test: - A total 18 cubes were tested for
crack :- Compressive Strength including both with and without
bacteria concrete. Compression strength test will be carried
When the cracks formed in concrete comes out on 7 days, 14 days and 28 days.
in the contact with air, water and moisture, bacteria
gets activated and forms lime as a result cracks Tension test :- A total 18 Cylinders were tested for split
heals itself. The bacteria grows in the sufficient tensile strength including both the specimens of with and
atmosphere. without bacteria. Tension test will be carried out on 7 days,
14 days and 28 days.
• Reduces the corrosion :-

Bacterial concrete does not allow the

corrosive agent to reach the reinforcement, before
that it heals itself and avoid or reduce the corrosion.

• Reduces the maintenance :-

Whenever the cracks gets form the

Bacterial concrete heals the cracks automatically
and reduce the maintenance and cost.

6. WORKING PROCESS:
COMPRESSION AND TENSION TEST
• Culture of Bacteria:
7. APPLICATIONS:
Firstly bacillus subtilis is known as Vibrio
• Construction of building to achieve more durability.
subtilis, this bacteria was discovered by Christian
Gottfried Ehrenberg in 1835. It was renamed in • Construction of building in earthquake zone.
1872 by Ferdinand Cohn. Bacillus
• Construction of building with less maintenance.
subtilis (B. subtilis) is a Gram-positive, aerobic
bacteria. It is rod-shaped. 8. ADVANTAGES:

• Mix design: • Self repairing of cracks without any external aide.

selecting suitable ingredients of concrete(M25) • Significant increase in compression strength and

such as cement, aggregates, water and determining flexural strength.
their relative proportions with the object of
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 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 06 Issue: 09 | Sep 2019 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

• Reduce the corrosion of steel. • J.Y. Wang, K. Van Tittelboom, N. De Belie, W.

Verstraete, Potential of applying bacteria to heal
• Harmless to human life and hence it can be use
cracks in concrete, in Proceedings of the Second
effectively.
International Conference on Sustainable
Construction Materials and Technologies, (Ancona,
Italy 2010)

• H.M. Jonkers, Development of self-healing concrete:

towards full scale application, in 3rd Internatinal
Conference on Self-Healing Materials, (Bath, UK,
2011), p. 27

• S.K. Ramachandran, Venkataswamy

RamakrishnanS.S. Bang

• Willem De Muynck,Dieter Debrouwer,Nele De

Belie,Willy Verstraete,P. GhoSh, Saroj Mandal,
Brajadulal Chattopadhyay, Shri Lal Pal

9. DISADVANTAGES:

• Cost of the Bacteria is more.

• Bacteria needs proper atmosphere for growth.

10. CONCLUSIONS

1) Bacteria improves the property of conventional

concrete such as increase in 13.75% strength
increased in 3 days, 14.28% in 7 days and 18.35%
in 28 days.

2) Self healing concrete is eco-friendly.

3) Enhance compressive strength and reduce the

permeability.

4) Reduce the corrosion of steel.

5) Bacterial concrete technology has proved to be

better than many conventional technologies.

6) Bio concrete enhance the life time of a structure by

more than the expected value.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

We would like to express gratitude to Prof. Manish

Bhatkar, Department of Civil Engineering, Jagadambha
college of engineering and technology, yavatmal for their
sincere efforts in carrying out the project work to bring up
this study.

REFERENCES:

• H.M. Jonkers, A. Thijssen, Bacteria mediated

remediation of concrete structures, in Proceedings
of the Second International Symposium On Service
Life Design for Infrastructures (Delft, The
Netherlands, 2010)

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