Selection of Nutrient Used in Biogenic Healing Agent for Cementitious Materials

Biogenic self-healing cementitious materials target on the closure of micro-cracks with precipitated inorganic minerals originating from bacterial metabolic activity. Dormant bacterial spores and organic mineral compounds often constitute a biogenic healing agent. The current paper focuses on the investigation of the most appropriate organic carbon source to be used as component of a biogenic healing agent. It is of great importance to use an appropriate organic source, since it will first ensure an optimal bacterial performance in terms of metabolic activity, while it should, second, affect the least the properties of the cementitious matrix. The selection is made among three different organic compounds, namely calcium lactate (CaL), calcium acetate (CaA), and sodium gluconate (NaG). The methodology that was used for the research was based on continuous and non-continuous oxygen consumption measurements of washed bacterial cultures and on compressive strength tests on mortar cubes. The oxygen consumption investigation revealed a preference for CaL and CaA, but an indifferent behavior for NaG. The compressive strength on mortar cubes with different amounts of either CaL or CaA (up to 2.24% per cement weight) was not or it was positively affected when the compounds were dissolved in the mixing water. In fact, for CaL, the increase in compressive strength reached 8%, while for CaA, the maximum strength increase was 13.4%.