{"title":"Skim milk powder as a urease stabilizer for efficient EICP treatment of recycled concrete aggregates","authors":"Rui Zhang, Aowei Ma, Dezhi Xie, Jianyun Wang","doi":"10.1617/s11527-026-03290-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The use of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) in concrete is constrained by porous adhered mortar and defects inherited from demolition and crushing. This study evaluated skim milk powder as a stabilizing additive for enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) treatment of RCA. The effects of milk-powder addition sequence and concentration (0–8 g/L) were examined in triplicate by monitoring pH and dissolved Ca<sup>2</sup>⁺, urea decomposition, dry mass gain, mass loss after a fixed ultrasonic-detachment test, water absorption, and deposit morphology and elemental composition by SEM/EDS. Adding milk powder after urease (U-M) or premixing milk powder with urease (UM) produced final Ca<sup>2</sup>⁺ utilization values of 87.2% and 88.4%, respectively. A dosage of 4 g/L was selected as a practical working concentration because higher dosages provided no clear additional benefit across the measured responses. Under the tested conditions, the largest reduction in RCA water absorption was 41.4%, compared with 17.1% for urease without milk powder. SEM/EDS observations were consistent with a finer and denser organic-mineral deposit in the milk-containing treatment. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of milk-powder-assisted EICP for improving pore-related RCA properties.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":691,"journal":{"name":"Materials and Structures","volume":"59 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9000,"publicationDate":"2026-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Materials and Structures","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1617/s11527-026-03290-3","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CONSTRUCTION & BUILDING TECHNOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The use of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) in concrete is constrained by porous adhered mortar and defects inherited from demolition and crushing. This study evaluated skim milk powder as a stabilizing additive for enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) treatment of RCA. The effects of milk-powder addition sequence and concentration (0–8 g/L) were examined in triplicate by monitoring pH and dissolved Ca2⁺, urea decomposition, dry mass gain, mass loss after a fixed ultrasonic-detachment test, water absorption, and deposit morphology and elemental composition by SEM/EDS. Adding milk powder after urease (U-M) or premixing milk powder with urease (UM) produced final Ca2⁺ utilization values of 87.2% and 88.4%, respectively. A dosage of 4 g/L was selected as a practical working concentration because higher dosages provided no clear additional benefit across the measured responses. Under the tested conditions, the largest reduction in RCA water absorption was 41.4%, compared with 17.1% for urease without milk powder. SEM/EDS observations were consistent with a finer and denser organic-mineral deposit in the milk-containing treatment. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of milk-powder-assisted EICP for improving pore-related RCA properties.
期刊介绍:
Materials and Structures, the flagship publication of the International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials, Systems and Structures (RILEM), provides a unique international and interdisciplinary forum for new research findings on the performance of construction materials. A leader in cutting-edge research, the journal is dedicated to the publication of high quality papers examining the fundamental properties of building materials, their characterization and processing techniques, modeling, standardization of test methods, and the application of research results in building and civil engineering. Materials and Structures also publishes comprehensive reports prepared by the RILEM’s technical committees.