A scene during the launch.
PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten is now officially the first base of operations for Basilisk Caribbean with their launch of three specialised concrete enhancing products, Basilisk Healing Agent for concrete mixtures, Self-Healing Repair Mortar and their Liquid Repair System.
The office is located at Organ Pipe Cactus Drive 33, in Sucker Garden. The launch of this international brand was held recently at Navy Beach Restaurant at IGY Marinas Isle de Sol and brought together a large cross-section of the construction, engineering and building community of the island to showcase the benefits this product will bring to the building capacity of the island.
Invitees were able to question one of the founders of the self-healing concrete technology behind these new products, Bart van der Woerd, who along with his colleague Marc Brants, who focuses on customer support, marketing and projects, answered many of the questions about the unique technology of self-healing concrete.
Long-time Caribbean based Hans Koppers and Roy Temples, who together have decades of concrete knowledge and expertise, were said to be happy with the questions and interest in the first of this kind of product in the Caribbean. “While we have sole distributorship for the Caribbean region, we are proud and happy to launch our first operation centrally based in St. Maarten,” it was stated in a press release. According to Basilisk Caribbean, “One of the properties of concrete is that it cracks. With a good design and good application this cracking can be limited, but even the little (hair) cracks can cause big problems. Cracked concrete has poor water resistance and the large temperature difference resistance of the concrete will be limited. Also, the durability of cracked concrete will be greatly reduced. Through the cracks moisture and oxygen are able to reach the steel reinforcement which can cause the steel to corrode. This could cause serious damage to the concrete structure.
Repair of damaged structures is expensive and often causes discomfort. These products are also perfect for expanding the lifetime of all kinds of concrete structures, such as, but not limited to buildings, retaining walls, bridges, water-sewage tanks, pools, etc. Structural safety is an important aspect for marine structures. Damaged concrete due to seawater (salt) can be disastrous for our water retaining structures, and could lead to high maintenance cost. “Wouldn’t it be nice if these structures could repair themselves, even in a saltwater environment? Yes! Our product works extremely well to solve this island’s specific issue,” it was stated in the release.
Basilisk Self-Healing Concrete is developed at Delft University of Technology and is based on an autonomous repair system which is made possible by limestone-producing microorganisms (bacteria). When the bacteria come in contact with oxygen and water, the reaction converts specialised nutrients to calcium carbonate (limestone). Due to the formation of limestone cracks are autonomously repaired, increasing the durability of the concrete structure, therefore avoiding leakages and future concrete damage, the release said.
