Biocement, recent research in construction engineering: Status of China against rest of world

This paper introduces a microbial product, termed 'biocement', and its role in construction engineering. Biocement, a novel metabolic by-product of microbially induced carbonate precipitation by way of urease (urea hydrolysing enzyme), presents a promising biotechnology for the enhancement of durability of building materials and structures. Urease-producing bacteria are ubiquitous in nature and, when added to cement, help to improve its compressive strength, reduce permeability and reduce the corrosion rate of reinforced structures. Promising results when using this metabolic product have encouraged various research groups worldwide; in-depth studies using these different approaches are discussed in this paper. The status of similar research from China's perspective is also elaborated. The results from different groups suggest that biocement, a product of green technology, can be used as an additional cementitious material to enhance the durability of building materials and structures.