Self-healing bio-concrete and microbial repair mortars (bacteria producing limestone, microbially induced calcite precipitation, MICP) — instead of epoxy and polyurethane crack injection and some chemical sealants
Epoxy and polyurethane (isocyanate) crack-injection resins and coatings for concrete repair (partly); repeated repair cycles
Water-retaining structures (tanks, basements, tunnels), infrastructure, precast concrete; also MICP for soil stabilization instead of chemical grouts (sodium silicate, acrylamide historically)
Suppliers 3
| Biomason | United States | active |
| Prometheus Materials | United States | active |
| Basilisk | Netherlands | active |
Route into Russia / EAEU BUILD
- Regulator
- Ministry of Construction (Minstroy) / certification bodies
- Typical time
- technical certificate within 10 working days under the 2022 special procedure, plus testing
- Legal basis
- Technical certificate for new construction products (Government Decree No. 1636 of 1997; special procedure Decree No. 353 of 2022); fire safety 123-FZ
Information, not legal advice — confirm the procedure for your product.
Proof 4 claims
Epoxy and polyurethane resin crack injection.
Microbial-induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) or bacterial self-healing concrete.
- Displaced at scale?
- no
- Caveats
- There is no evidence of commercial displacement of epoxy or polyurethane resins by bio-concrete at scale. Current applications are limited to small-scale demonstrators, lab-scale research, and niche projects. Barriers to adoption include high costs, lack of standardized field methodologies, and the need for long-term durability validation.
- checked
- 2026-10-06
| Application of self-healing concrete in the field is limited to a few examples, such as a roof slab of an inspection pit in Belgium and an irrigation canal in Ecuador. “Due to the combination of these challenges, application of self-healing in the field is rather limited, though a few examples can be found. ... In another application, bacterial self-healing concrete was used to make an irrigation canal in Ecuador liquid tight.” Belgium, Ecuador · 2020 · pilot or niche | peer-reviewed www.mdpi.com |
| For moderate to severe cracks, bioconcrete showed approximately 50% to 76% lower carbon footprint than polymer overlay-based repair. “When the cracks were moderate to severe, polymer overlay-based repair was necessary, and bioconcrete showed ∼50% − ∼76% lower carbon footprint than polymer overlay.” global · 2026 · | weak (company, news, market research, other) experts.azregents.edu |
| Self-healing concrete is approximately 60–70% more expensive than conventional concrete. “Self-healing concrete is around 60–70% more expensive than conventional concrete.” India · 2025 · | peer-reviewed link.springer.com |
| Field trials of bacteria-based self-healing systems have been conducted, leading to the creation of a spinoff company, Basilisk Self-Healing Concrete, to bring these systems to market. The Netherlands · not specified · pilot or niche | peer-reviewed www.mdpi.com |
References 3
- Jonkers HM, Thijssen A, Muyzer G, Copuroglu O, Schlangen E (2010). Application of bacteria as self-healing agent for the development of sustainable concrete. *E VERIFIED DOI · cited by 1379
- Wiktor V, Jonkers HM (2011). Quantification of crack-healing in novel bacteria-based self-healing concrete. *Cement and Concrete Composites* 33: 763–770. VERIFIED DOI · cited by 1041
- DeJong JT, Mortensen BM, Martinez BC, Nelson DC (2010). Bio-mediated soil improvement. *Ecological Engineering* 36: 197–210. VERIFIED DOI
Details
Replaces: part of epoxy and polyurethane crack repair and chemical grouts · Scope: concrete structures · Evidence: medium
The chemical problem#
Concrete cracks let water and chlorides reach the steel reinforcement, which leads to corrosion and expensive repairs. Crack repair uses epoxy and polyurethane resins. Epoxy is a leading cause of occupational contact dermatitis in construction, and isocyanates cause asthma. Chemical soil grouts have included neurotoxic acrylamide: the Hallandsås tunnel (Sweden, 1997) grout leak poisoned cattle and fish and made workers ill.
Product overview#
- Self-healing bio-concrete (developed at TU Delft by Jonkers et al.): spores of alkali-tolerant Bacillus (e.g. B. cohnii, B. pseudofirmus) plus calcium lactate nutrient are embedded in the concrete (in capsules or expanded clay). When a crack forms and water enters, the spores germinate, metabolize lactate and precipitate limestone (CaCO₃), sealing cracks up to about 0.5–0.8 mm. It is commercialized (e.g. Basilisk, the Netherlands) as an admixture, a repair mortar and a liquid repair system.
- Microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) for soil stabilization and erosion control: Sporosarcina pasteurii hydrolyzes urea and precipitates calcite that binds sand grains. Field pilots exist; it is an alternative to some chemical grouts.
Active ingredient / Composition#
Bacterial spores (Bacillus spp.), calcium lactate or other organic calcium sources, nutrients; for MICP, urease-active bacteria + urea + calcium chloride.
Key facts#
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Class | Microbial biomineralization |
| Crack healing | Laboratory/field: autonomous sealing of cracks up to about 0.5–0.8 mm width |
| Spore viability | Years inside concrete (protected carriers) |
| Worker safety | No sensitizing resins |
Advantages#
- Less maintenance and fewer repairs; extends service life (protects reinforcement).
- Avoids epoxy/PU exposure for repair crews.
- Microbial limestone is chemically compatible with concrete.
Mode of action#
Water entering a crack activates the spores. The bacteria metabolize calcium lactate, producing CO₂, which reacts with calcium to form CaCO₃ that fills the crack. MICP: urease produces carbonate and raises pH, precipitating calcite between soil grains.
Application#
| Use | Measure | Specifics |
|---|---|---|
| Water-retaining structures, basements | Bio-concrete admixture | Higher initial material cost |
| Existing cracked concrete | Bacterial repair mortar or liquid healing agent | For fine cracks, not structural cracks |
| Soil/sand stabilization | MICP pilots | Ammonium by-product (from urea) must be managed |
Limitations#
- Heals fine cracks only; structural repairs still need engineered solutions.
- Higher cost; long-term performance data are limited.
- MICP generates ammonium, so manage the by-products and groundwater.
Evidence of displacement — D0: no verified evidence#
No verified figure was found for this substitution.
Suppliers — real products and services (from the vendor index)#
Honest finding: the vendor index has no bio-concrete or bio-cement producer. This is recorded as a supplier gap.
Update 2026-10-02: the new USA & Canada dataset supplies this product — rows marked NA below. For Africa/ME, LatAm and Asia the regional gap noted above still stands.
Companies below are active vendors in the vendor index whose own card (profile / official website) shows this product or service — matched 2026-10-05 by keyword and checked by hand against the card text. Being listed is not an endorsement; open each card for evidence, contacts and status.
Update 2026-10-05: the new Europe dataset supplies this product — rows marked Europe below. For the other regions the gap noted above still stands unless a row says otherwise.
| Company | Region · Country | What the index shows | Card |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biomason | NA · United States | microorganisms grow biocement at ambient temperature (Portland-cement alternative) | card |
| Prometheus Materials | NA · United States | carbon-negative cement/concrete using microalgae and biomineral inputs | card |
| Basilisk | Europe · Netherlands | self-healing concrete (bacteria-based healing agent) and repair products | card |
Government funding signals#
Public grants for a specific technology are a leading indicator: governments fund what regulators want to replace and what is close to practical adoption. Searched on 2026-09-27 in: EU CORDIS (FP7, Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe), US federal awards (USAspending: USDA NIFA/ARS/APHIS/Forest Service, EPA, DOE, NOAA, USAID; plus NSF and NIH), UK UKRI Gateway to Research, Australian Research Council. Each grant below was reviewed by hand for relevance. China, Brazil and India are covered in the subsection below (publication-acknowledged grants). Not covered: Russia (RSF, FASIE — not reachable from the research environment) and national agencies outside these databases. Amounts are the funder’s contribution as recorded (US NIH/UKRI: per award or fiscal year).
Signal: Strong. 3 relevant grant(s) · about €4.1M in total · jurisdictions: Australia, EU.
| Funder / programme | Project | Lead organisation | Start | Amount | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| European Commission — FP7 CP-FP | HEALCON: Self-healing concrete to create durable and sustainable concrete structures | Universiteit Gent (BE) | 2013 | 3,997,429 EUR | link |
| Australian Research Council — Discovery Projects | Self-Healing Concrete for Mitigation of Chloride Induced Steel Corrosion. This project aims to develop an intrinsic self-healing concrete using… | University Of Technology Sydney (AU) | 2022 | 236,993 AUD | link |
| European Commission — H2020 MSCA-IF-EF-CAR | The efficiency of bio-self-healing concrete within ground conditions | University Of Derby (UK) | 2018 | n/a | link |
China, Brazil, India — national research grants acknowledged in publications#
Chinese, Brazilian and Indian funders have no open grant databases reachable here, so this measures scientific papers published since 2015 that acknowledge national government grants, taken from the grant numbers publishers deposit with Crossref. Only papers whose title contains this article’s key terms are counted (a conservative lower bound; “100+” = search window full). It shows research-funding intensity, not budgets. Funders: China — NSFC, National Key R&D Program, China Agriculture Research System; Brazil — CNPq, CAPES, FAPESP, Embrapa, FAPEMIG; India — DBT, DST, ICAR, SERB, CSIR, BIRAC. Rating per country: Strong ≥50 papers · Moderate 10–49 · Weak 1–9.
| Country | Papers funded (2015–2026) | Signal | Main funders (grant acknowledgements) | Example grant → funded paper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| China | 66 | Strong | NSFC (72), National Key R&D Program (12) | NSFC 51778415 → Enhancing fiber/matrix bonding in polypropylene fiber reinforced cementitious composites by microbially… (2018) doi |
| Brazil | 1 | Weak | CNPq (3), CAPES (1) | CAPES 001 → Mechanical Behavior of Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation Cemented Sand (2021) doi |
| India | 1 | Weak | DBT (1) | DBT BT/PR31844/BIC/101/1206/2019 → Microbially induced calcite precipitation using Bacillus velezensis with guar gum (2020) doi |
Scientific evidence#
- Jonkers HM, Thijssen A, Muyzer G, Copuroglu O, Schlangen E (2010). Application of bacteria as self-healing agent for the development of sustainable concrete. Ecological Engineering 36: 230–235.
- Wiktor V, Jonkers HM (2011). Quantification of crack-healing in novel bacteria-based self-healing concrete. Cement and Concrete Composites 33: 763–770.
- DeJong JT, Mortensen BM, Martinez BC, Nelson DC (2010). Bio-mediated soil improvement. Ecological Engineering 36: 197–210.
Bioeconomy value#
Bacteria become a building material that repairs itself, replacing sensitizing resins and toxic grouts in the construction industry.