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Self Healing Concrete

Experiment Findings · January 2022

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TED UNIVERSITY

Self-Healing Concrete

Sharifullah Kamran

Instructor: Dr. Sanem Yalçıntaş

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Contents:
Abstract: ....................................................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction:................................................................................................................................................. 2
Self-healing Concrete: .................................................................................................................................. 3
Self-healing Concrete Development Model: ....................................................................................... 3
Product Development: ......................................................................................................................... 4
Alpha/ Betha (Lab & Field Testing): ..................................................................................................... 5
Launch/ First Ship & Joint Venture: ..................................................................................................... 6
Products: ....................................................................................................................................................... 7
Research to Model process illustration: .............................................................................................. 9
Technology Readiness Level (TRL): .............................................................................................................. 9
Intellectual Property: ................................................................................................................................. 10
PESTLE Analysis of Basilisk Company: ....................................................................................................... 11
Political Factor: ................................................................................................................................... 11
Economic Factor: ................................................................................................................................ 11
Social Factors: ..................................................................................................................................... 12
Technological Factor: ......................................................................................................................... 12
Environmental Factors: ...................................................................................................................... 13
Legal Factors: ...................................................................................................................................... 13
Conclusion: ................................................................................................................................................. 14
References: ................................................................................................................................................. 16
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Abstract:
What is concrete? Why do we need it? Do you know that concrete is the second most
used material by humans after water? To start with concrete is a mixture of sand, cement paste,
and aggregates. It is a material where is used against compressive (pushing) strength. It should
be pointed out that concrete is not a material where you use it in tension force (pulling). We use
concrete nowadays in building any structure for instance: houses, roads, skyscrapers, etc. it’s
hard to imagine life without concrete, the compressive strength of the manmade material allows
us to build everything from a superhigh way to our classroom. We are surrounded by concrete;
without it we might not be having skyscrapers and other amazing things. Concrete is so widely
used that it become the most used material by humans after water. More than 7.7 billion cubic
meters of concrete are produced each year which is one cubic meter per person in the plant.

The use of concrete start 3000 BC years ago, and after that, the Romans were using limestone,
water, and volcanic ash to make material that resists against water. Most of the structures built
by the roman are still standing.

Facts about concrete according to Professor Henk Jonker at Delf University presentation are as
follow: (Jonker, 2017)

1. 7.7 billion (109) m3 concrete produced each year

2. 2.3 trillion (1012) euro yearly spent of construction and maintenance of worlds
infrastructure
3. 55% new construction
4. 45% maintenance and repair
5. 20 % less maintenance saves 207 billion euro/ year
6. 20 % longer service lifetime: saves 253 billion euro/ year
7. The corrosion society (USA) estimates the cost of corrosion in construction and other
application to be 276 billion USD which 4 billion is due to steel corrosion

This paper studies the innovation made by Dr. Henk Jonker which introduce self-healing concrete
to the Civil Engineering world.

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Introduction:
The modern era of concrete started 200 years ago, where instead of using limestone,
water, and volcanic ash Engineers started to use sand, cement, and aggregate. With this new
method of mixture, a new type of concrete was obtained, with much higher concrete strength.
Until now the method that 200 years ago was being used.

As mentioned, concrete is good in compressive force it cannot be used against tension force. To
give concrete tension strength, a steel bar is used to reinforce the concrete against tension
forces. Moreover, concrete is time-depended on material, it continues to gain strength until 365
days and there is always variation in concrete strength.

While putting concrete in beams or columns of a structure, an Engineer with his/her best try to
avoid the cracks in concrete but there will be some
excessive crakes. These microscopic cracks are
ignored at the beginning, the problem starts when
microscopic cracks find a way to each other and
make a big visible crack in the wall which may lead
to the collapse of the structure as shown in (Figure
1.0). Due to this excessive crack’s countries spend
billions for the maintenance of these structures.
Europe only spends 9 billion euro a year on the Figure 1.0 (highway crack)
maintenance of structures such as highways, tunnels, buildings, etc. So, we can say just due to
small excessive cracks in concrete Europe expend 9 billion euro. Moreover, for almost 200 years,
Engineers were trying to find a way of avoiding the cracks in concrete.

At Delft University, a microbiologist, Dr. Henk Jonker, worked with concrete for three years. He
brought a huge change in the Civil Engineering industry by introducing self-healing concrete.

As mentioned early while putting concrete a Civil Engineer will try their best to avoid the small,
microscopic cracks, in the end, there will be some small cracks that will occur. When these cracks
find their way to each other, and it will make a relativity big crack. If these cracks reach the steel

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bar inside the concrete, the steel will rust and at the end, the steel and concrete will lose their
strength which might cause the destruction of the structure. When the small cracks occur the
self-healing concrete comes to work.

Self-healing concrete is a bacterial substance

that is added to concrete while mixing. These
bacteria have the ability to expand when it is
exposed to water, humidity, and even air.
When the cracks occur, these bacteria expand
and close the cracks and avoid the further
extension of the cracks as shown in (figure Figure 1.1 (bacteria healing cracks)
1.1).

Self-healing Concrete:
After three years of experimenting Dr. Henk Jonker found the perfect solution of self-
healing concrete with bacillus bacteria. While an interview with CNN Dr. Henk Jonker said, “You
need bacteria that can survive the harsh environment of concrete” (CNN interview). Moreover,
he mentioned, the bacillus is a perfect match since the bacteria will thieve in the high-alkaline
condition of concrete and it will produce spores that can live up to four years without any food
or oxygen. Dr. Henk Jonker finally added calcium lactate to the limestone concrete mixture to
feed the bacillus so they can produce limestone to repair cracks in the concrete.

At the University of Michigan, according to Professor Victor Li “Every time we load the concrete
again after it heals, it always acts just like a new”.

Self-healing Concrete Development Model:

The concept of self-healing concrete follows the concept of concrete damage prevention.
Moreover, the damage to be healed is mainly considered the durability performance, to minimize
the cost of maintenance and rapier.

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Professor Jonker friends in 2006 at the Delft University of Technology of Netherlands where his
Civil Engineer friend had read an article about adding limestone-producing bacteria to
monuments to increase the life of monument. His friend wondered if the same approach can be
used for construction material and challenged Professor Jonker. Professor Jonker worked for
three years until he came up with a self-healing concrete solution. (Thomas Berry, 2018)

Before Dr. Henk Jonker, many other scientists used many approaches to come up with the
substance to heal concrete. Until now scientists use the three following approaches to heal
concrete as shown in (Figure 1.2). Dr. Henk Jonker used biological approaches to heal the
concrete. (Ishraq.H. A, Hazhar. S, Mohammad. A.A,2019)

Figure 1.2 (concepts of self- healing concrete)

Product Development:
Professor Jonker found out that the problem with concrete is small cracks which in time
these small cracks when it reaches to other make bigger crack. Moreover, he also knew that the
concrete is extremely alkaline, which means that the bacteria need to survive the alkaline even
re-produce in the harsh environment of concrete. He finally found the best bacteria which is

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bacillus bacteria. Bacillus bacteria can stay in concrete for many years without food and even
oxygen.

While the problem of water and food was solved, Dr. Jonkers needs to find a solution to feed the
bacteria at the precise moment in order to repair the cracks. Initially, he chose sugar to feed the
bacteria, but he finds out that mixing sugar with concrete will reduce the strength of concrete.
Then Jonkers used calcium lactate which does not reduce the strength of concrete. Moreover,
within the wet mix of concrete, he mixed the calcium lactate and bacteria capsules with water
and then added them to the concrete. Water leaks through cracks of concrete, when the capsules
are exposed to water it dissolves and then releases the bacteria. When the bacteria release it
feeds the calcium lactate which produces calcite. As we mentioned calcite is limestone, limestone
expands and fills the cracks of concrete. Dr. Jonker calls this innovation “Bio-concrete”.

Alpha/ Betha (Lab & Field Testing):

The lab test was done successfully, and the product was ready to be tested on the field.
The full-scale outdoor testing was started in 2011. A small structure was built from self-healing
concrete and observed over two to four years. Bigger cracks are made in the structure to
determine how well and effectively they heal over two to four years. The cracks are bigger and
longer than the ones tested in the lab. Finally, both the lab and field tests were done successfully.

The Commercial partners raised the question of, is it possible to use self-healing concrete
capsules on an existing structure. In 2011 to answer the mentioned question, the Dutch
government-funded University of Delft with 420,000 Euros and another 450,000 Euros for
whether it can be used underground structures. For two years two Postdoctoral scientists worked
to find the answer to the question. (Ingrnia.org.uk 2011)

After two years of research, the scientists found that self-healing concrete can be used on existing
concrete structures as well as underground structures.

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Launch/ First Ship & Joint Venture:

Since all the research is done at Delft University and the researchers wanted to
commercialize the self-healing concrete. In 2015 the university founded Green-Basilisk company
as a spin-out offering self-healing concrete solutions. Moreover, a patent was registered in
cooperation with Henk Jonker, Sybrand van der Zwaag and Erik Schlangeon. The company was
founded by its CEO Bart van der. The company was initially financed by Shift invest company in
2017. (Coribon, Press Release, 2019)

Later the Green-Basilisk Company made a joint venture agreement with Carbion company to be
able to be fit in the international market. Carbion is a global market leader in lactic acid
derivatives, emulsifiers, lactic acid, functional enzymes, minerals, etc. change

The first shipment of self-healing concrete was made in 2017.

Distributor and partner companies are listed below as shown in Table 1.0: (Basilisk, Partners)

NO Name Distributors in Countries

1 JP Concrete United Kingdom

2 Basilisk Caribbean Sint Maarten Caribbean

3 Comix Ltd United Arab Emirates

4 Basilisk Korea South Korea

5 Aizawa Concrete Japan

6 Current Pte Ltd Singapore

7 wba Abdichtungssysteme Germany

8 Bio International Portugal

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9 ECMAS Construction Chemicals Pvt. Ltd. India, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh

10 Fortius Belgium

11 Basilisk Taiwan Taiwan

12 UAB Betono Zona Baltic States

13 Markham Global New Zealand & Australia

14 Basilisk ME Middle East

Table 1.0 (Distributors and partners)

It is expected that the company will have 2 million euros in revenue by the end of 2021.

Products:
As mentioned before self-healing concrete can also be used on existing concrete
structures. The company produces three types of products which separately can be used in the
existing concrete structure and ongoing concrete construction.

The first product is Basilisk Healing Agent which can be mixed with normal concrete. The second
product is self-healing repair Mortar MR3 which is also called self-healing cement past. MR3 is
used for existing concrete cracks. The third product is liquid repair system ER7 which is self-
healing concrete for a small existing crack in liquid form. (Basilisk concrete, product)

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The three products are shown in Figure 1.3. Figure 1.3 (three products of self- healing concrete)

The application of Self-healing repair Mortar MR3 and liquid repair system ER7 are shown in
Figures 1.4, 1.5.

Figure 1.4 (MR3) Figure 1.5 (ER7)

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Research to Model process illustration:

Professor Masahiro Ouchi:
Self-compacting concrete
(SCC) conception 2003
Professor Carolyan Dry
1994 first time to consider
the self-healing concrete
concepton

Professor Henk Jonker:

Self-healing concrete or
Bio-concrete. 2016

Green Basilisk Concrete

company spin-out from
Delft University. Invested
by shift invest, later joint
venture agreement with
Carbion company.
Technology Readiness Level (TRL):
The TRL model is shown in Table 1.1.

Phase TRL Stages DESCRIPTION

Operation TR9 Operation Spin-off at Delf University and commercialized

2011.

TRL8 Active Commissioning Government Proven and awarded 450,000 Euro.

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TRL7 Inactive Commissioning First demonstration in Delf university. Concrete

healed itself after 7 days.

Development TRL6 Large Scale Test concrete with different bacteria is successfully
done.

The selection of bacteria for different lengths of

crack is founded.

TRL5 Pilot Scale Food supply for bacteria is provided, now bacteria
can live up to 200 years. At Delft University.

TRL4 Bench-scale 2006-2008 Lab experiment in the Delft University

of Technology.

Research TRL3 Proof of concept The idea of self-Healing concrete was proven by H.
Jocker a microbiologist at Delft University in 2007.

TRL2 Invention and Research 1994-2003 researchers tried to develop a better

way.

Self-compacting concrete (SCC) has been used by

Japan.by Ouchi M, Osterberg T, Hallberg S-E, Lwin.

TRL1 Basic Principle Recovering the strength and properties.

Professor Carolyan Dry, first to seriously consider

the idea. 1994

Table 1.1 (TRL model)

Intellectual Property:
After the invention of self-healing concrete, Mr. Henk Jonker founded a spin-off Green
Basilisk concrete company from Delft University. In the company, Mr. Jonker is the Co-Founder
and Mr. Bart van dae Woerd is the Co-Founder and CEO not to forget Alfred Wiemer is the finance
controller of the company.

To protect the invention Mr. Henk Jonker currently Holding four patents. The first patent was
registered in 2011 under healing agent for self-healing cementitious material title and the second
is registered 2012 under healing agent in cement-based materials and structures, and process for
its preparation. (Shifinvest, 2021)

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Mr. Henk Jonker continues research on self-healing in order to improve and make the product
cheaper. Recently, Mr. H Jonker with his team is working on the process to produce cementitious
material.

PESTLE Analysis of Basilisk Company:

Political Factor:
Political factors have a significant effect on Basilisk concrete company. For a country, long-
term profit from a certain company or market can have a positive effect on a country. Moreover,
as we mentioned before, self-healing concrete is a relatively new market. According to Grand
View Research Inc, the global self-healing concrete is expected to reach 305 billion USD in 2027.
(Grand View Research Inc)

Since the self-healing concrete company is a pioneer company in concrete and is already
distributing to dozen countries this will expose itself to a different type of political environment
as well as political risks. In order to achieve success in self - healing market across different
countries, the Basilisk concrete company can closely analyse the following factors before
investing in a market.

1. The importance of self-healing concrete sector in-country and political stability

2. Intellectual property protection
3. Trade regulation
4. Trade partners
5. Mandatory employee benefits
6. Industry safety regulation

In near future, different counties will invest in self-healing concrete, since concrete is not a
material that can be a substitute found for it.

Economic Factor:
The Macroeconomic environment factor is affected by the inflation rate, foreign exchange rate,
interest rate. Microenvironment factor for instance the norm of competition impacts the competitive
advantage. Basilisk Concrete may also use the country's economic factors for instance growth rate,

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inflation, consumer spending, etc in order to forecast the growth not just for the Basilisk concrete
company at the same time for the self-healing concrete industry. Understood for the following is essential
for a self-healing concrete company.

1. Stability of the country economy

2. Government interference in the market
3. Exchange rate, host country currency
4. Level of education regarding the economy

The stability of the country's economy has an effect on the company since the country will open the gate
for foreign trade. Understanding the host country's currency as well as economy is the second step
towards the successful economic growth of a company.

Social Factors:
In an environment, the way of achieving something has an impact on the culture of a
company. Moreover, shearing the same belief as well as attitudes of a society plays a great role
in the self-healing concrete. It’s important for a company to understand the following factor
which has a direct effect on the self-healing concrete company.

1. Skill level of population

2. Cultural (gender, social convention)
3. Attitude towards the society

Technological Factor:
With the assistance of technology, self-healing concrete is growing fast. A good example
is the transportation of a good from one place to another. As we mentioned before many
countries are trying to make their type of self-healing concrete, so they enter the market.
Moreover, not only biologists and civil engineers but chemical engineers, nano- engineers are
also trying different methods and techniques to achieve a new type of self-healing concrete.
Moreover, with the help of Delft University and Basilisk company technology equipment, the
company can achieve an even better and cheaper product.

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Environmental Factors:
There are different kinds of norms or environmental standards that have a direct impact
on the income of a company. Moreover, not only within a country but even stats laws may be
different from each other. it’s recommended that before entering the market check where the
following factors match the product.

1. Climate change
2. Environmental pollution
3. Recycling
4. Attitude toward the green

Regarding the Basilisk Concrete company, it has achieved the three most important factors.
Normal concrete produces much higher and different CO2, whereas the Basilisk Concrete is
friendly with the environment. Moreover, the company produces concrete with bacteria that
come from the environment, so we can say that it is a friendly environment. Basilisk concrete is
a biological type of concrete, it is green, and it has a positive attitude towards the green
environment.

Legal Factors:
Numerous countries are not able to protect the intellectual property rights of a company.
Before entering a market needs to carefully evaluate analyses the market and enter the market
in the patent so it avoids other companies to interfere with their product. The following factor
needs to be considered while entering a new market.

1. Intellectual property law, copyright, patents

2. Discrimination
3. Data protection
4. Health and safety

The Co-Founder of Basilisk Concrete company Mr. H Jonker currently holds four patents to
protect his invention legally. Moreover, apart from Basilisk Concrete company, many other
companies are trying to produce self-healing concrete. As mentioned before, it is hard for a

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foreign company to understand the legal aspect of a country. In these types of countries where
it is not easy to open a direct company a joint venture with another inner company needs to do.
As shown in Table 1.0 in some of the country Basilisk didn’t open a direct company instead it
used the joint venture method. The joint venture company has the responsibility to protect the
Data, Intellectual property law, copyright, patents of the company. Moreover, the joint venture
company needs to do the marketing for the product.

Conclusion:
The modern era of concrete started 200 years ago, where instead of using limestone,
water, and volcanic ash Engineers started to use sand, cement, and aggregate. With this new
method of mixture, a new type of concrete was obtained, with much higher concrete strength.
Until now the method that 200 years ago was being used.

After three years of experimenting Dr. Henk Jonker found the perfect solution of self-healing
concrete with bacillus bacteria. The first full-scale outdoor testing was started in 2011. Moreover,
after two years of research, the scientists found that self-healing concrete can be used on existing
concrete structures as well as underground structures.

In 2015 the university founded Green-Basilisk company as a spin-out offering self-healing

concrete solutions to commercialize the product. The company was initially financed by Shift
invest company in 2017. Later the Green-Basilisk Company made a joint venture agreement with
Carbion company to be able to be fit in the international market.

Basilisk Concrete has partners in dozen countries. The company has three types of products that
can be used on existing concrete structures. The products are MR3, ER7, and mortar.

To protect the invention Mr. Henk Jonker holds four patents, where Mr. H Jonker is the Co-
founder of the company.

Since the self-healing concrete company is a pioneer company in concrete and is already
distributing to dozen countries this will expose itself to a different type of political environment
as well as political risks.

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Basilisk Concrete may also use the country's economic factors for instance growth rate, inflation,
consumer spending, etc in order to forecast the growth not just for the Basilisk concrete company at the
same time for the self-healing concrete industry. Moreover, with the help of Delft University and
Basilisk company technology equipment, the company can achieve an even better and cheaper
product.

The joint venture company has the responsibility to protect the Data, Intellectual property law,
copyright, patents of the company. Moreover, the joint venture company needs to do the
marketing for the product.

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References:
1. New Materials: Building with Living Materials - Henk Jonkers, researcher at TU Delft. (2017,
February 17). [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi6RJ4DpbVY
2. Andrew Stewart, 2016, CNN, The living concrete,
https://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/14/tech/bioconcrete-delft-jonkers/index.html
3. Thomas Berry, 2018, CNN, Self- Healing concrete: Reinforcements from bacteria
http://legacysearch.net/self-healing-concrete-of-the-future/
4. Ali Khattab. I & Shekha. H & Abdi. A, (2019). Study on self-healing concrete Type.
5. Arnold, D. (2011, March 26). Ingenia - Self-Healing Concrete. Ingenia.Ogr.Uk.
https://www.ingenia.org.uk/ingenia/issue-46/self-healing-concrete
6. Press Release, (2019), Corbion and Green-Basilisk SENTIALL innovation Named Bio-based Produce
of the year
7. Delft, B. (2021, October 12). Products. Basilisk. Retrieved November 29, 2021, from
https://www.basiliskconcrete.com/en/partners/
8. Delft, B. (2021, October 12). Products. Basilisk. Retrieved November 29, 2021, from
https://www.basiliskconcrete.com/en/products/
9. Invest, S. (n.d.). New trend: managing cracks with self-healing concrete. SHIFT Invest. Retrieved
November 29, 2021, from https://shiftinvest.com/news/nieuwe-trend-scheuren-managen-met-
zelfhelend-beton
10. Construction, G. Stack Path. For construction pros.
https://www.forconstructionpros.com/concrete/news/21198206/global-selfhealing-concrete-
market-value-reports-growth-to-30538-billion-by-2027
11. Senem Yalcintas, 2021, Her Hakki Saklidir

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