Compatibility of Landfill Leachate with Compacted Biocemented Lateritic Soil Through Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitation Technique

Abstract

A new soil improvement method known as microbial induced calcite precipitation (MICP) has received tremendous attention of researchers in the related fields. This paper reports the results of the compatibility of compacted bio-cemented lateritic soil with municipal solid waste (MSW) leachate. Lateritic soil was treated with Sporosarcina pasteurii (S. pasteurii) suspension densities up to 2.40 x 10 9 cells/ml and compacted using British Standard light, BSL (or standard Proctor) energy. The permeation with leachate only yielded minimum hydraulic conductivity values of 5.02 x 10 -10 m/s for the natural soil and 5.78 x 10 -10 m/s for specimen treated with S. pasteurii suspension density of 2.40 x 10 9 cells/ml. The micrographs of specimens treated with S. pasteurii suspension density of 2.40 x 10 9 cells/ml and permeated with leachate only depicted the development of bio-film when compared with micrograph of the untreated soil. Test results showed significant reduction in the concentration of the MSW leachate chemical specie considered after interaction with S. pasteurii for 150 days either through bio-transformation or bio-degradation process.