Review of the Factors That Influence on the Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitation

Abstract

Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitates (MICP) is a new and sustainable technology used to improve the properties of construction materials. This technique works by introducing bacteria solution (e.g., Sporosarcina pasteurii, B. megaterium, Spoloactobacilus, Clostridium and Desulfotomaculum) into the soil matrix, and then injection of a chemical solution consisting of urea and one of calcium salts (e.g., calcium chloride and calcium acetate) into the soil matrix several times.A number of factors must be considered to enable the use and control of the MICP process in field applications, including the concentrations of bacteria solution, the concentrations of the chemical solutions, in addition to methods to introduce the bacteria and these chemical solutions to the soil.The main aim of this research is to provide an overview of the various factors affecting the MICP within the soil, where the research studied  the effect of bacteria, soil particle size, nutrients, chemical solutions, pH, temperature and injection strategies on the efficiency of MICP as a method to improve the chemical and mechanical properties of the soil.

Keywords: MICP, Bacteria, Nutrients, Chemical Solutions, pH, Temperature, Injection Strategies, Soil Particle Size