Research status and development of microbial induced calcium carbonate mineralization technology

Abstract

In nature, biomineralization is a common phenomenon, which can be further divided into authigenic and artificially induced mineralization. In recent years, artificially induced mineralization technology has been gradually extended to major engineering fields. Therefore, by elaborating the reaction mechanism and bacteria of mineralization process, and summarized various molecular dynamics equations involved in the mineralization process, including microbial and nutrient transport equations, microbial adsorption equations, growth equations, urea hydrolysis equations, and precipitation equations. Because of the environmental adaptation stage of microorganisms in sandy soil, their reaction rate in sandy soil environment is slower than that in solution environment, the influencing factors are more different, in general, including substrate concentration, temperature, pH, particle size and grouting method. Based on the characteristics of microbial mineralization such as strong cementation ability, fast, efficient, and easy to control, there are good prospects for application in sandy soil curing, building improvement, heavy metal fixation, oil reservoir dissection, and CO2 capture. Finally, it is discussed and summarized the problems and future development directions on the road of commercialization of microbial induced calcium carbonate precipitation technology from laboratory to field application.

Fig 1. Mineralization mechanism of calcium carbonate precipitation induced by microorganism in solution.

(a): Bacterial growth and urease production; (b): conversion and formation of various inorganic ions; (c): Ca^{2 +} adsorption by bacterial cells; (d): Bacterial cells as nucleation sites and deposition of CaCO₃.

Fig 2. Photosynthesis during cyanobacteria mineralization.

Fig 3. Urease-producing bacteria.

Fig 4. Types of precipitated calcium carbonate crystals at different pH (left 7 and right 9).

Fig 5. Injection method.

Fig 6. Immersion method.

Fig 7. Morphology of induced calcite in shake flask solution.

(a): SEM at 50.0um;(b): SEM at 1.0 um.

Fig 8. Morphology of quartz sand cemented calcite.

(a): SEM at 200.0um;(b): SEM at 10.0 um.

Fig 9. Coastal dune erosion test.

Fig 10. MICP application pool construction.

(a): after treatment;(b) cross-sectional view of the bottom of the pond after cultivation of algae.

Fig 11. MICP application with metal Pb fixation.

(a): the linear relationship between precipitated Ca and precipitated Pb; (b): Elemental maps showing the distribution of Pb.

Fig 12. Reservoir profile control principle.