Microbial-Induced Calcite Precipitation: A Milestone Towards Soil Improvement

Abstract

Microbial-induced calcite precipitation (MICP) is a natural process that offered various applications in the engineering field materials and construction industry. It has recently emerged as an innovative, eco-friendly, and economically engineeredprocess. One of the successful MICP methods of improving the engineering properties of soils is ureolysis. The ureolysis drove the process of precipitate calcite which binds soil particles within the soil matrix thus enhance soil characteristicssuch as stiffness, permeability, hydraulic conductivity, shear strength, and compressive strength. This paper aimed at reviewing the concept of utilizing calcium carbonate (CaCO3) precipitation by ureolytic bacteria towards the improvement of soil and sand engineering properties for various geotechnical applications. The potential applications of this technologyin soil erosion, stability, and reinforcement were discussed. Detail overviews of the temperature, pH, bacteria cell concentration, nutrients, types of bacteria, and concentration of reactants that affect the efficiency of the process are also reviewed. This review demonstrated the potential of the MICP technology from the laboratory to a field-scale or commercial applications.

The Impact of Calcium Chloride in Cementation Solution on Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitation: A Systematic Review

“…To overcome this problem, Chunxiang et al (2009) suggested that both cementation solution and bacterial solution be introduced simultaneously since the bacterial cell wall is composed of numerous negative charges (Dardau et al, 2021) and thus, if positively charged ions are introduced first without urea, Ca 2+ ions spontaneously adhere to the bacterial surface (even in the presence of urea), severely influencing and delaying bacterial activity. Thus, enzyme degradation is hindered no matter when urea is added, as bacterial surfaces would be coated with Ca 2+ , which impairs urea passage.…”

Sustainable construction: Toward growing biocement with synthetic biology

“…Corals produce from a single polyp into 3D complex communities held together by a mineralized scaffold, and bacteria construct architectonically complex 3D communities that frequently contain mineral and organic extracellular component (Keren-Paz and Kolodkin-Gal, 2020). Unlike human bones and teeth, designed with calcium phosphate mineral (assembled over hydroxyapatite or apatite) over a collagen template (Jeong et al, 2019), scaffolds formed by soil and marine bacteria and corals are frequently composed of calcium carbonate (Dhami et al, 2013;Phillips et al, 2013;Dardau et al, 2021), although accumulation of crystalline calcium phosphate was also reported (Hirschler et al, 1990). Crystals formed over the organic templates are either vaterite [generated by cyanobacteria (Zafar et al, 2022)], aragonite [generated by corals, and microalgae/cyanobacteria (Xu et al, 2019)] and calcite formed by Bacillus subtilis and the Bacillus phylum members (Oppenheimer-Shaanan et al, 2016;Keren-Paz et al, 2022), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Li et al, 2015;Cohen-Cymberknoh et al, 2022), and cyanobacteria (Kranz et al, 2010).…”

“…, where the source of CO 2 can be a byproduct of bacterial metabolism or the atmosphere (Dhami et al, 2013). The growth of calcium carbonate crystals occurs in layers while the biogenic (organic) environment and organic polymeric substances influence crystal shape and morphology (Weiner and Addadi, 2011;Zhang et al, 2016).…”

“…The potential of microbial mineralization for bioconcrete applications has been thoroughly investigated and includes, so far, the restoration of cement mortar cubes, sand consolidation and limestone monument repair, reduction of water and chloride ion permeability in concrete, filling of pores and cracks in concrete, and enhanced strength of bricks (Dhami et al, 2013). Overall, the richness of microbial biomineralization pathways discussed here provides a comprehensive tool set for future applications.…”

Assessing Indigenous Soil Ureolytic Bacteria as Potential Agents for Soil Stabilization

“…Biocalcification also referred to as microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) is a biomineralization technique involving a biochemical process of precipitating calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) crystals induced by active ureolytic bacterial activity due to urea hydrolysis (ureolysis) occurring within the environment (Zamer et al 2018;Chen et al 2019;Yang et al 2020). The success of the MICP process is promoted primarily by ureolytic bacterial species such as Bacillus sphaericus, Pararhodobacter sp., Mor-ganella morgana, Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus cereus which are capable of utilizing urea as a source of nitrogen by passively diffusing or actively transporting the urea into the cytoplasm of the cell and the bacterial cell wall acting as nucleation sites (Dardau et al 2021). In search for alternative soil improvement technology with minimal environmental consequences, less adverse effect on the ecosystem and maintaining ecological balance (Khaliq & Ehsan 2016), over conventional methods (cement, chemical grouting & deep mixing technique) that varied in terms of environmental impact, cost, penetration depth, energy consumption and treatment uniformity which portrays their merits and demerits (Hiranya et al 2018;Duo et al 2018;Bui Truong et al 2020), and advances in material and geotechnical research, led to the development of an innovative, novel bio-mediated soil improvement technique utilizing ureaseproducing bacteria as potential agents.…”