Bio-cement-modified construction materials and their performances

Abstract

The microbial induced mineral precipitation can be used to modify and improve the performance of construction materials and can partially replace ordinary Portland cement. Microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) mainly uses the urease secreted during the growth of urease-producing bacteria (UPB) to hydrolyze urea produce CO32− and reacts with Ca2+ to form CaCO3. Microbially induced struvite precipitation (MISP) mainly uses the urease to decompose urea to produce NH4+. In the presence of hydrogen phosphate and magnesium ions, the struvite can be precipitated. The elemental composition and chemical composition of the precipitates produced by the MICP and MISP processes are analyzed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and powder X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). The morphology of the precipitates can be observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Compared with the initial porosity, the MICP method can reduce the initial porosity of the sand column by 2.98% within 90 min. However, the MISP is only 1.45%. The permeability coefficient of the sand column can be effectively reduced in the MICP process. The total content of cementitious materials is 27.71g and 13.16g in MICP- and MISP-cemented sand columns, respectively. The MICP technology can improve the strength of alkali-activated mortars under different pH values of the UPB solution.