Abstract
Recently, designers have begun to pursue sustainability through the fabrication of materials from living organisms such as bacteria, fungi, and algae in order to address environmental issues. Based on the potential of materials from living organisms, this study has explored a sustainable design application using biocement formed thorough microbially-induced calcite precipitation (MICP), which produces minerals by bacterial metabolic activity. Since most of the studies on MICP thus far have focused on limited fields such as engineering, biotechnology, and geo-technology, this study has focused more on improving the application of biocement in design. We optimized MICP conditions using two parameters (i.e., concentration of urea-CaCl2 and bacterial cell density) through water percolation testing, compressive strength testing, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Then, based on the optimized conditions, material compatibility testing and scalability testing were performed, and design application research was conducted as well. As a result, biocement has been identified as a potential sustainable design material, based on its 40% compressive strength compared to conventional concrete, improved material finish, aesthetic aspects, and environmental impact. This paper contributes to the development of biocement applications in the environmental design field through multidisciplinary research ranging from biological experiments to design applications.
Highlights
We are facing a serious global situation in which natural resources are being depleted, as well as environmental issues such as damage to the planet’s biodiversity, with concerns about sustainability continuing to grow
The need for proper laboratory conditions combined with the rigorous procedures of microbially-induced calcite precipitation (MICP) can be a huge barrier to the application of MICP in multidisciplinary fields; all experiments except for bacterial cultivation were conducted under non-sterilized conditions
Microbially-induced calcite precipitation is absolutely dependent on the urease activity of S. pasteurii, which increases the surrounding pH
Summary
We are facing a serious global situation in which natural resources are being depleted, as well as environmental issues such as damage to the planet’s biodiversity, with concerns about sustainability continuing to grow. Designers are beginning to use living organisms such as bacteria, algae, and fungi to fabricate sustainable materials and manufacturing methods with reduced environmental impact. This interdisciplinary research between biology and design has already been applied in a variety of areas, from manufacturing to architecture, in order to overcome the environmental crisis in the design field [3,5]
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