Lactobacillus plantarum: Bacteria Based Self-
Healing Concrete for Cracks
Angelica Ancheta2, Jasten Rey D. Bunsocan2
2
College of Engineering Education, University of Mindanao
Matina, Davao City
2
angelicaanchetaa@gmail.com
2
jastenreybunsocan.jrb@gmail.com
Abstract— This study demonstrates the utilization of
microorganisms-Lactobacillus plantarum for mending concrete
as a plan for break control to upgrade the life of the solid
structure. In this paper, Microbiologically Induced Calcite
Precipitation is used. It is the exertion of Lactobacillus IV.
plantarum alongside its nutrients which is the Amino Acid,
Thioglycolate and Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3). The mixing
proportion used is 1:2:4:0.55 along with 30ml liquid form of
Lactobacillus plantarum with its respective nutrients. The size of
the samples are 4 inches in diameter and 2 inches thick. The
samples will be tested by applying uniform pressure using
Universal Testing Machine (UTM) and observe if there are any
changes with the cracks.
Index Terms: Microbiologically Induced Calcite Precipitation,
Lactobacillus plantarum, Conventional concrete, Bacterial
concrete.
V.
I. INTRODUCTION
II. Self-healing concrete could solve the problem of concrete
structures deteriorating well before the end of their service life.
Concrete is still one of the main materials used in the
construction industry, from the foundation of buildings to the
structure of bridges and underground parking lots. Traditional
concrete has a flaw, it tends to crack when subjected to tension.
Concrete will continue to be the most important building
material for infrastructure, but most concrete structures are
prone to cracking. Tiny cracks on the surface of the concrete
make the whole structure vulnerable because water seeps in to
degrade the concrete and corrode the steel reinforcement,
greatly reducing the lifespan of a structure. Self-healing
concrete is a product that will biologically produce limestone to
heal cracks that appear on the surface of concrete structures.
[11] Specially selected types of the bacteria genus Bacillus,
along with a calcium-based nutrient known as calcium lactate is
added to the ingredients of the concrete when it is being mixed.
[12] These self-healing agents can lie dormant within the
concrete for up to 200 years.[1] Self-healing concrete is
classified into two parts: autonomous self-healing concrete and
autogenous self-healing concrete. [15]
III. When the cracks appear in the concrete, the water seeps in the
cracks. The spores of the bacteria germinate and starts feeding
on the calcium lactate consuming oxygen. The soluble calcium
lactate is converted to insoluble limestone. The insoluble
limestone starts to harden. Thus, filling the crack. [9] The other
advantage of this process is, as the oxygen is consumed by the
bacteria to convert calcium into limestone, it helps in the
1
prevention of corrosion of steel due to cracks. This improves the
durability of steel reinforced concrete construction. [10] Self-
healing is also confirmed by SEM photographs and XRD
analysis. [13]
The starting point of the research was to find bacteria capable of
surviving in an extreme alkaline environment because cement
and water have high pH value when mixed together.[1] Bacteria
belonging to genus Bacillus are usually used in self-healing
concrete, which includes pasteurizing, Bacillus sphaericus,
Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cohnii, Bacillus balodurans, and
Bacillus pseudofirmus .[3] However, Lactobacillus plantarum
which is under the class of Bacilli, is a widespread member of
the genus Lactobacillus, commonly found in many fermented
food products as well as anaerobic plant matter.[4] Based on the
study in Diversity and Mechanisms of Alkali Tolerance in
Lactobacilli, it was stated that Lactobacillus Plantarum can
withstand in a high-alkaline environment.[2]
Ankit Ghatiya,[5] The purpose of their research is to investigate
the nature of microorganism Bacillus Pseudofirmus for
enhancement of self-healing property and strength in concrete.
Cracks in concrete are integral and are one of the implicit
weaknesses of concrete. Water and other salts percolate through
these cracks, corrosion introduce, and thus reduces the life of
concrete. Therefore, for enhance the mechanical properties of
concrete structures cement is replaced by Bacillus
Pseudofirmus. For this purpose Bacillus Pseudofirmus is
replaced by 0%, 2.5%, 5% by the weight of cement. Numerous
tests were conducted like compressive strength, flexural
strength, split tensile strength and stress-strain curve at the
different percentage of Bacillus Pseudofirmus 2.5%, 5% for the
time period of 7, 14, and 28 days curing and compare with
conventional concrete. Chintalapudi Karthik, Rama Mohan Rao.
P, [6] To overcome costly repairs for concrete cracks, self-
healing techniques are adopted. Bio mineralization techniques
give favourable results in sealing the micro-cracks in concrete.
The freshly formed micro-cracks can be sealed up by continuous
hydration process in concrete. The ureolytic bacteria i.e.,
bacillus pasteurii which can produce urea is added along with
the healing agent to seal the freshly formed micro-cracks by
CaCo3 precipitation. For the improvement of pore structure in
concrete the bacterial concentrations were optimized for better
results. A. Ghandimathi, N. Vigneswari, et al, [7] in this study
Bacillus Sphaericus that is abundant in soil has been used to
induced CaCO3. It is therefore vital to understand the
fundamentals of microbial participation in crack remediation.
The impact of ECO- friendly micro-organism has been made
use of the self-healing process in the current project.
Amudhavalli N. K., Keerthana K. Ranjani A, [8] their paper
 explains about the overview of bacterial concrete. Self-healing
agents such as epoxy resins,bacteria, fibre are used to heal
cracks in concrete. Among these, bacteria used in concrete are
effective. The state of art results in all projects show that
material designed as self-healing agents. H. Jonkers, V. Wiktor,
et al, Bacteria induced calcium carbonate precipitation based on
metabolic conversion of nutrients has been acknowledged for
having potentials in self-healing cement-based materials. The
healing efficiency was measured by water permeability test
before and after injection at several time intervals. The
specimens injected with bacteria based solution and cured in wet
condition showed higher healing efficiency compared to dry
cured specimens.
The main purpose of this study is to determine the
effectiveness of self-healing concrete using Lactobacillus
Plantarum as bacteria, time of healing and impact and to Cultured Lactobacillus Plantarum
identify its weight.
This study will be perceived important because its success will
provide good quality concrete in the future. The outcome of the
study will also have an impact in the industry because it can
bring new discovery.
This study will be delimited to the use of Lactobacillus
platarum as bacteria for self-healing concrete and will be
evaluated consistent with the objectives of the study.

VI. MATERIALS AND METHODS

This section presents the methodological processes and
experiments that are performed to gather data for statistical analysis.

A. Materials and Resources

The ordinary concrete used in the test program are consist of
ordinary portland cement which is use as binding material,
graded fine aggregates that are below 4.75 mm, graded coarse Lactobacillus
aggregates which are less than 16 mm, potable water, plantarum under the microscope
Lactobacillus plantarum that are found in many fermented food
products as well as anaerobic plant matter or simply buy it in
any pharmacy called Lactopafi, and lastly the calcium lactate or
the food of the bacteria.

B. Methods and Procedures

Bacteria Sub-Culturing
Microbiological culture made by exchanging a few cells from past
culture to crisp development medium. Sub-refined is utilized to drag
out the life and additionally grow the quantity of cells of
microorganisms in a culture. The ingredients are Lactobacillus
plantarum, Amino Acid, Thioglycolate broth, and Calcium
Carbonate. These are the nutrients needed for the bacteria to survive
and it also serves as its food or nutrient. The researchers used
autoclave machine, test tubes, and inoculating wire.

Liquid Lactobacillus Plantarum

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Mixing of Bacterial Concrete
The researchers opted to use the concrete mixture 1:2:4:0.55.
Which is 1 cement bag, 2 bags of sand and 4 bags of course
aggregates and 0.55 for the water cement ratio.
1. Mix the cement, sand and coarse aggregate manually on a
platform.
2. Add water and mix until the desired mixture was attained.
3. Add the 30ml Lactobacillus plantarum along with its
respective nutrients.
4. Make 2 samples each.
5. Place in the mold.
Mixing of Conventional Concrete
The researchers opted to use the concrete mixture 1:2:4:0.55.
Which is 1 cement bag, 2 bags of sand and 4 bags of course
aggregates and 0.55 for the water cement ratio.
6. Mix the cement, sand and coarse aggregate manually on a
platform.
7. Add water and mix until the desired mixture was attained.
8. Place it in the mold.
5. A. Ghandimathi, N. Vigneswari, et al, (2012), Experimental Study
on Self –Healing Concrete
6. Amudhavalli N. K., Keerthana K., Ranjani A (2015), Experimental
Study on Bacterial Concrete, IJSEAS,Volume-1
7. (2019) The Constructor – Civil Engineering Home website.
[Online] https://theconstructor.org/concrete/bacterial-concrete-self-
healing-concrete/13751/
8. (2018) Azuko Technical Institute Engineering Services website
[Online] https://www.azukotech.com/single-post/2018/10/29/Self-
Healing-Concrete/
9. (2013) The Masterbuilder website [Online]
https://www.masterbuilder.co.in/self-healing-concrete/
10. A. Eswari (2014), Nadar Saraswathi College of Arts and Science
for Women.
11. B. Kumar (2019), Bacteria Induced Self-Healing Concrete – A
Review
12. H. Jonkers, V. Wiktor, et al, (2017), The Use of Alkaliphic
Bacteria-based Repair Solution for Porous Network Concrete
Healing Mechanism
13. A. Magaji (2019), A Review Paper on Self Healing Concrete ,
The International Journal of Engineering and Science (IJES),Volume
8

After placing it in the mold, both bacterial concrete and

conventional concrete are cured for 28 days.

Sample Size

REFERENCES

1. D. Arnold., INGENIA, Issue 46, March 2011

(2007) The NCBI website. [Online] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
B.R Gautam., “Bacteria Based Self Healing Concrete – A Bacteria
Approach”., 2018
2. E Giraud, B Lelong and M Raimbault. 1991. Influence of pH and
initial lactate concentration on the growth of Lactobacillus
plantarum Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. 36(1):96–99.
3. Ankit Ghatiya (2017), Assessment on Strength of Self-healing
Concrete by using Bacillus Pseudofirmus as Partial Replacement
with Cement: A Review, International Journal for Scientific
Research & Development| Vol. 5, Issue 09, 2321-0613
4. Chintalapudi Karthik, Rama Mohan Rao. P (2016),Properties of
Bacterial-based Self-healing Concrete,IJCRGG ISSN: 0974-4290,
Vol.9, No.02