Development of bio-cemented constructional materials through microbial induced calcite precipitation

Microbial induced calcite precipitation (MICP) is an environmentally friendly technology to bond sand particle together to form sandstone like materials. In this paper, MICP-treated bio-specimen was developed through MICP. The property of bio-specimen was compared with beams or bricks made through lime modification and cement modification. Ottawa sand was used in MICP-treated bio-specimen preparation. The proportion of lime or cement was in the range of 10–40% by weight of dry sand. The four-point bending tests, brick compression tests and unconfined compression tests were conducted. The test results indicated that flexure strength of MICP-treated bio-specimen was 950 kPa which was similar to flexure strength of 20–25% cement-treated sand beams, but was much higher than flexure strength of 30% lime-treated sand beams. The brick compression strength of MICP-treated bio-specimen achieved 500 kPa, which was similar to brick compression strength of 30% lime-treated sand bricks. The unconfined compression test results showed that the unconfined compression strength (UCS) of MICP-treated bio-specimen (1300 kPa) was higher than UCS of 10% cement-treated specimen (900 kPa), and much higher than UCS of lime-treated sample (around 140 kPa). The relative uniformity of precipitated CaCO3 distribution was achieved through the sample immersing preparation method. SEM images showed that failure pattern of MICP-treated, cement-treated and lime-treated specimens were bond-particle failure.