Logo image
Back
Enhancing microbial induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICCP) in self-healing concrete by addressing cell encapsulation: Investigating the impact of exogenous carbonate ions
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Enhancing microbial induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICCP) in self-healing concrete by addressing cell encapsulation: Investigating the impact of exogenous carbonate ions

Seyed Ali Rahmaninezhad, Mohammad Houshmand, Parsa Namakiaraghi, Amirreza Sadighi, Kiana Ahmari, Divya Karmireddi, Caroline L Schauer, Ahmad Najafi, Yaghoob (Amir) Farnam and Christopher M. Sales
Process biochemistry (1991), v 160, pp 194-205
Jan 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procbio.2025.10.010
Featured in Collection :   Research Supported by Drexel Libraries' OA Programs
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procbio.2025.10.010View
Published, Version of Record (VoR)Open Access via Drexel Libraries Read and Publish Program 2025CC BY V4.0,  Open

Abstract

Biomineralization yield Calcium ions Exogenous carbonate ions Self-healing of concrete Cell encapsulation Microbial induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICCP)
This study investigates the impact of calcium ion-rich media on biomineralization yield during microbially-induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICCP) reactions, presenting a novel approach to enhance crack-filling kinetics crucial for concrete self-healing. Our findings reveal that bacterial cells, nucleation sites for calcium carbonate precipitation dominating their surfaces, become encapsulated by calcium carbonate crystals, particularly in calcium-rich environments. This encapsulation was hypothesized to impede cell access to nutrients and urea, resulting in significant reductions in cell growth (98.4 %), urea hydrolysis (84.6 %), and calcium carbonate production (81.2 %), delaying MICCP initiation by up to 10 days. Moreover, the consumption of dissolved carbonate ions due to calcium carbonate precipitation diminishes media buffering capacity, further retarding bacterial growth. Conversely, adding exogenous sodium carbonate accelerated bacterial growth (up to 122-fold), urea hydrolysis, and biomineralization (up to 10-fold), expediting crack-filling in cement mortar specimens. We also found that higher initial cell concentrations (OD600 of 1) provided more nucleation sites, reducing cell encapsulation and synergistically enhancing MICCP kinetics while maintaining media buffering capacity. These findings offer mechanistic insight into the importance of mitigating cell encapsulation during MICCP to enhance concrete crack-filling.

Metrics

11 Record Views

Details

InCites Highlights

Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:

Web of Science research areas
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Engineering, Chemical
Logo image