Bacteria are often vilified, but they are often helpful little creatures. The engineer has now developed a protective coating for buildings loaded with CO2-absorbing bacteria to create a barrier against erosion by the elements.
It’s as tough as concrete or stone, but it can’t withstand the constant wind and rain. Over time the weather will prevail and the building may require regular maintenance or be in danger of being damaged or collapsed.
To reinforce buildings from the elements, researchers at the University of Hertfordshire are developing a new protective lime cleaner. This special coating is bioactive and contains harmless bacteria that play an important role in enhancing the surface. Through photosynthesis, microorganisms absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use it to create a layer of calcium carbonate. This acts as a buffer against erosion.
A prototype prototype of the coating has been developed by the university’s Zero Carbon Lab and a company called UK Hempcrete, and a testbed is already in place. The lime wash is first tried at the White & Mackay Whiskey Distillery on the Isle of Jura off the coast of Scotland. Here, the windswept rain regularly hits the buildings and the distillery needs a new coat every year. This regular maintenance impacts productivity and tourism, and increases carbon emissions from transporting goods to the island.
The team believes that the new limewash not only reduces these carbon footprints by reducing the frequency of building recoating, but also the distillery’s other emissions by actively absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. I hope to counter some of the
If all goes according to plan, a prototype coating will be applied to the distillery building by July, and commissioning will take place for three to six months. After that, the team wants to scale up for commercial use.
Source: University of Hertfordshire
