Construction Biotechnology: a new area of biotechnological research and applications

A new scientific and engineering discipline, Construction Biotechnology, is developing exponentially during the last decade. The major directions of this discipline are selection of microorganisms and development of the microbially-mediated construction processes and biotechnologies for the producti...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Stabnikov, Viktor, Ivanov, Volodymyr, Chu, Jian
Other Authors: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/102886
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/38666
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
Description
Summary:A new scientific and engineering discipline, Construction Biotechnology, is developing exponentially during the last decade. The major directions of this discipline are selection of microorganisms and development of the microbially-mediated construction processes and biotechnologies for the production of construction biomaterials. The products of construction biotechnologies are low cost, sustainable, and environmentally friendly microbial biocements and biogrouts for the construction ground improvement. The microbial polysaccharides are used as admixtures for cement. Microbially produced biodegradable bioplastics can be used for the temporarily constructions. The bioagents that are used in construction biotechnologies are either pure or enrichment cultures of microorganisms or activated indigenous microorganisms of soil. The applications of microorganisms in the construction processes are bioaggregation, biocementation, bioclogging, and biodesaturation of soil. The biotechnologically produced construction materials and the microbially-mediated construction technologies have a lot of advantages in comparison with the conventional construction materials and processes. Proper practical implementations of construction biotechnologies could give significant economic and environmental benefits.