Professor Chen Liang published article on Construction and Building Materials with title of "Microbially induced calcite precipitation for production of “bio-bricks” treated at partial saturation condition"

In this study, bio-cementation using microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) was utilised to produce sandstone-like bricks called “bio-bricks”, under 50% treatment saturation condition. The produced bio-bricks under partially saturated condition gave compressive strength of 9 MPa, which is twice the strength usually obtained from the conventional fully saturation condition approach. Various mechanical properties including the water absorption (about 10%), salt attack (mass loss about 0.5 g) and fire resistance were also evaluated. The results demonstrated that the produced bio-bricks are suitable for use as a construction material, and also presents an additional benefit of being greener alternative to traditional fired clay or cement bricks.