Effect of proteins on biocementation in construction materials

Elvis Baffoe; Edward Dauer; Ali Ghahremaninezhad

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.108743

Effect of proteins on biocementation in construction materials

iScience. 2023 Dec 14;27(1):108743. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108743. eCollection 2024 Jan 19.

Authors

Elvis Baffoe¹, Edward Dauer², Ali Ghahremaninezhad¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33146, USA.
² Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33146, USA.

Abstract

This study examines the effect of proteins on the binding property and microstructure of enzymatic-induced calcium carbonate precipitation (EICP) in cementitious environment. The protein modified precipitates generally demonstrated improved binding to a glass slide surface or cement paste surface compared to the control precipitate. A marked decrease in the amount and binding strength of the precipitates in the cementitious environment was observed due to a reduction in the urease enzyme activity. The protein modified precipitates exhibited noticeable improvement compared to the control precipitate in cementitious environment which could arise from the ability of the proteins to partially shield urease from the negative effect of high pH. The protein gel network formation due to the complexation between the proteins and Ca²⁺ provides nucleation sites for CaCO₃ crystallization. The FTIR, SEM, TGA, and XRD results indicated that vaterite is the dominant polymorph in cementitious environment compared to calcite in deionized water.

Keywords: Biomaterials; Materials property; Materials science.