Soil bio-cementation using a new one-phase low-pH injection method

Soil bio-cementation via microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) has been extensively studied as a promising alternative technique to traditional chemical cementing agents for ground improvement. The multiple-phase injection methods are currently well adopted for MICP treatment, but it is...

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Main Authors: Cheng, L., Shahin, Mohamed, Chu, J.
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/71934
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author Cheng, L.
Shahin, Mohamed
Chu, J.
author_facet Cheng, L.
Shahin, Mohamed
Chu, J.
author_sort Cheng, L.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Soil bio-cementation via microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) has been extensively studied as a promising alternative technique to traditional chemical cementing agents for ground improvement. The multiple-phase injection methods are currently well adopted for MICP treatment, but it is rather complex and requires excessive number of injections. This paper presents a novel one-phase injection method using low-pH all-in-one biocement solution (i.e. a mixture of bacterial culture, urea, and CaCl2). The key feature of this method is that the lag period of the bio-cementation process can be controlled by adjusting the biomass concentration, urease activity, and pH. This process prevents the clogging of bio-flocs formation and thus allows the biocement solution to be well distributed inside the soil matrix before bio-cementation takes effect, allowing a relatively uniform MICP treatment to be achieved. Furthermore, the ammonia gas release would be reduced by more than 90%, which represents a significant improvement in the environmental friendliness of the technology. The new one-phase method is also effective in terms of the mechanical property of MICP-treated soil; an unconfined compressive strength of 2.5 MPa was achieved for sand after six treatments.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-719342019-10-22T07:07:47Z Soil bio-cementation using a new one-phase low-pH injection method Cheng, L. Shahin, Mohamed Chu, J. Soil bio-cementation via microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) has been extensively studied as a promising alternative technique to traditional chemical cementing agents for ground improvement. The multiple-phase injection methods are currently well adopted for MICP treatment, but it is rather complex and requires excessive number of injections. This paper presents a novel one-phase injection method using low-pH all-in-one biocement solution (i.e. a mixture of bacterial culture, urea, and CaCl2). The key feature of this method is that the lag period of the bio-cementation process can be controlled by adjusting the biomass concentration, urease activity, and pH. This process prevents the clogging of bio-flocs formation and thus allows the biocement solution to be well distributed inside the soil matrix before bio-cementation takes effect, allowing a relatively uniform MICP treatment to be achieved. Furthermore, the ammonia gas release would be reduced by more than 90%, which represents a significant improvement in the environmental friendliness of the technology. The new one-phase method is also effective in terms of the mechanical property of MICP-treated soil; an unconfined compressive strength of 2.5 MPa was achieved for sand after six treatments. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/71934 10.1007/s11440-018-0738-2 fulltext
spellingShingle Cheng, L.
Shahin, Mohamed
Chu, J.
Soil bio-cementation using a new one-phase low-pH injection method
title Soil bio-cementation using a new one-phase low-pH injection method
title_full Soil bio-cementation using a new one-phase low-pH injection method
title_fullStr Soil bio-cementation using a new one-phase low-pH injection method
title_full_unstemmed Soil bio-cementation using a new one-phase low-pH injection method
title_short Soil bio-cementation using a new one-phase low-pH injection method
title_sort soil bio-cementation using a new one-phase low-ph injection method
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/71934