{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,6]],"date-time":"2026-03-06T03:58:03Z","timestamp":1772769483613,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,28]],"date-time":"2022-03-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1648425600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000287","name":"Royal Academy of Engineering","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["345445231"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["345445231"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000287","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"ICE Fund","award":["3423121"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["3423121"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Materials"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The vulnerability of buildings and structures to rain and flooding due to a lack of adaptive capacity is an issue all over the world. Exploring the bio-resources availability and engineering performance is crucial to increase infrastructure\u2019s resilience. The current study analyses earth-based mortars using mineral precipitation as a biostabiliser (bio) and compares their performance with cement-based mortars. Cultures of S. oneidensis with a concentration of 2.3 \u00d7 108 cfu\/mL were used to prepare earth-based and cement-based mortars with a ratio of 6% of binder. Microstructure analyses through SEM\/EDS, water absorption, moisture buffering, mechanical strength, and porosity are discussed. The biostabiliser decreases water absorption in tidal-splash and saturated environments for earth and cement mortars due to calcium carbonate precipitation. The biostabiliser can prevent water migration more effectively for the cement-based (60% reduction) than for the earth-based mortars (up to 10% reduction) in the first 1 h of contact with water. In an adsorption\/desorption environment, the conditions favour desorption in cem+bio, and it seems that the biostabiliser precipitation facilitates the release of the chemicals into the mobile phase. The precipitation in the earth+bio mortar porous media conditions favours the adsorption of water molecules, making the molecule adhere to the stationary phase and be separated from the other sample chemicals. The SEM\/EDS performed for the mortars confirms the calcium carbonate precipitation and shows that there is a decrease in the quantity of Si and K if the biostabiliser is used in cement and earth-mortars. This decrease, associated with the ability of S. oneidensis to leach silica, is more impressive for earth+bio, which might be associated with a dissolution of silicate structures due to the presence of more water. For the tested earth-based mortars, there was an increase of 10% for compressive and flexural strength if the biostabiliser was added. For the cement-based mortars, the strength increase was almost double that of the plain one due to the clay surface negative charge in the earth-based compositions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ma15072490","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,29]],"date-time":"2022-03-29T21:41:30Z","timestamp":1648590090000},"page":"2490","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Biomineralisation to Increase Earth Infrastructure Resilience"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6292-2073","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ana","family":"Bras","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies (BEST) Research Institute, School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK"}]},{"given":"Hazha","family":"Mohammed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies (BEST) Research Institute, School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6016-8882","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Abbie","family":"Romano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies (BEST) Research Institute, School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK"}]},{"given":"Ismini","family":"Nakouti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Natural Products Discovery (CNPD), School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"118615","DOI":"10.1016\/j.conbuildmat.2020.118615","article-title":"The potential and current status of earthen material for low-cost housing in rural India","volume":"247","author":"Kulshreshtha","year":"2020","journal-title":"Constr. 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