Conditions for CaCO3 Biomineralization by Trichoderma Reesei with the Perspective of Developing Fungi‐Mediated Self‐Healing Concrete

Aurélie Van Wylick; Hubert Rahier; Lars De Laet; Eveline Peeters

doi:10.1002/gch2.202300160

Conditions for CaCO3 Biomineralization by Trichoderma Reesei with the Perspective of Developing Fungi‐Mediated Self‐Healing Concrete

Aurélie Van Wylick, Hubert Rahier, Lars De Laet, Eveline Peeters

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

24 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Concrete, a widely used building material, often suffers from cracks that lead to corrosion and degradation. A promising solution to enhance its durability is the use of fungi as self-healing agents, specifically by harnessing their ability to promote calcium carbonate (CaCO3) precipitation on their cell walls. However, the ideal conditions for CaCO3 precipitation by the filamentous fungal species Trichoderma reesei are still unclear. In this study, the biomineralization properties of T. reesei in liquid media are investigated. Two different calcium sources, calcium chloride (CaCl2) and calcium lactate are tested, at varying concentrations and in the presence of different nutritional sources that support growth of T. reesei. This study also explores the effects on fungal growth upon adding cement to the medium. Calcium lactate promotes greater fungal biomass production, although less crystals are formed as compared to samples with CaCl2. An increasing calcium concentration positively influences fungal growth and precipitation, but this effect is hindered upon the addition of cement. The highest amounts of biomass and calcium carbonate precipitation are achieved with potato
dextrose broth as a nutritional source. By identifying the optimal conditions for CaCO3 precipitation by T. reesei, this study highlights its potential as a self-healing agent in concrete.

Original language	English
Article number	2300160
Pages (from-to)	1-8
Number of pages	8
Journal	Global Challenges
Volume	8
Issue number	1
Early online date	21 Dec 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/gch2.202300160
Publication status	Published - Jan 2024

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was financially supported by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Strategic Research Program Growth Funding SRP91) and by Research Foundation Flanders (FWO‐Vlaanderen) [FWO‐SB PhD fellowships to Aurélie Van Wylick (grant number 1SA9721N)]. The authors would like to thank Simon Vandersanden and Amber Dehaen for their dedicated contributions during their master thesis, Hannelore Geeraert for sharing her insights on the FTIR analyses, David Cannella for providing a laboratory work environment at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the company Holcim for the supply of cement. Additionally, the authors would like to thank Martyn Dade‐Robertson of Newcastle University and Meng Zhang of Northumbria University for hosting Aurélie Van Wylick for a research stay and Jamie Haystead for demonstration of the HCl treatment method.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Global Challenges published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.

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10.1002/gch2.202300160Licence: CC BY

107138370Final published version, 3.8 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Conditions for CaCO3 Biomineralization by Trichoderma Reesei with the Perspective of Developing Fungi‐Mediated Self‐Healing Concrete",

abstract = "Concrete, a widely used building material, often suffers from cracks that lead to corrosion and degradation. A promising solution to enhance its durability is the use of fungi as self-healing agents, specifically by harnessing their ability to promote calcium carbonate (CaCO3) precipitation on their cell walls. However, the ideal conditions for CaCO3 precipitation by the filamentous fungal species Trichoderma reesei are still unclear. In this study, the biomineralization properties of T. reesei in liquid media are investigated. Two different calcium sources, calcium chloride (CaCl2) and calcium lactate are tested, at varying concentrations and in the presence of different nutritional sources that support growth of T. reesei. This study also explores the effects on fungal growth upon adding cement to the medium. Calcium lactate promotes greater fungal biomass production, although less crystals are formed as compared to samples with CaCl2. An increasing calcium concentration positively influences fungal growth and precipitation, but this effect is hindered upon the addition of cement. The highest amounts of biomass and calcium carbonate precipitation are achieved with potatodextrose broth as a nutritional source. By identifying the optimal conditions for CaCO3 precipitation by T. reesei, this study highlights its potential as a self-healing agent in concrete.",

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Conditions for CaCO3 Biomineralization by Trichoderma Reesei with the Perspective of Developing Fungi‐Mediated Self‐Healing Concrete

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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Other files and links

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SRP91: SRP-Groeifinanciering: Synthetic biology for the development of microbial cell factories

FWOSB109: Fungi-mediated self-healing concrete: increasing lifespan and durability of concrete structures by inducing self-healing of cracks

Cite this

Conditions for CaCO3 Biomineralization by Trichoderma Reesei with the Perspective of Developing Fungi‐Mediated Self‐Healing Concrete

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

SRP91: SRP-Groeifinanciering: Synthetic biology for the development of microbial cell factories

FWOSB109: Fungi-mediated self-healing concrete: increasing lifespan and durability of concrete structures by inducing self-healing of cracks

Cite this