We are pleased to announce that Maiia Smirnova, doctoral researcher at the Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design (ILEK) of the University of Stuttgart, will give the SFB 1313 "Pretty Porous Science Lecture" #52.
Her talk will be on "Production of building components out of bio-concrete".
Date: Thursday, 11 April 2024
Time: 4:00 pm CET
Speaker: Maiia Smirnova, ILEK, University of Stuttgart
Lecture title: "Production of building components out of bio-concrete"
Place: Multi Media Lab (MML), U1.003, Pfaffenwaldring 61, 70569 Stuttgart, Campus Vaihingen. If you are interested in participating in the lecture, please contact edward.coltman@iws.uni-stuttgart.de
Remote Access: (Webex presentation link)
Abstract
The production of bio-concrete is based on the process of microbially-induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) in porous media, in which calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is formed as a binder. Bio-concrete is considered to be a potentially CO2-neutral alternative to conventional Portland-cement-based concrete, since no process-related carbon dioxide emissions are generated during biomineralization. Furthermore, carbon dioxide is bound in the form of carbonate. However, the production of building components out of bio-concrete poses some challenges that have not yet been solved in the MICP research.
The first challenge is achieving the high strength at sufficient component depth though matrix design, flow regulation and careful chemical concentration adjustments. Together with the Institute of Microbiology (IMB) and the Material Testing Institute (MPA) of the University of Stuttgart ILEK recently could achieve a combination of a very high compressive strength of 52.5 MPa and a cementation depth of 140 mm, which has not been reported in previous publications.
Apart from that, bio-concrete is a mineral material, which needs to be reinforced in order to be used in building components. The reinforcement strategies with basalt fibers recently developed at ILEK will be presented in this lecture.
Finally, the concept of circular bio-concrete production, which is covered in the most recent project SimBioZe will be presented.
About the presenter
Maiia Smirnova is a doctoral researcher with the Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design (ILEK) at the University of Stuttgart.