Basics of Construction Microbial Biotechnology - Biotechnologies and Biomimetics for Civil Engineering - page 37

MICP is developing and testing in the field mainly for numerous geotechnical
applications (Seagren and Aydilek 2010 ; DeJong et al. 2010 , 2013 ; Sarayu et al.
2014 ): to enhance stability of the slopes and dams (van Paassen et al. 2010 ; Harkes
et al. 2010 ); for road construction and prevention of soil erosion (Mitchell and
Santamarina 2005 ; Whiffin et al. 2007 ; Ivanov and Chu 2008 ; Ivanov 2010 ); for
the construction of the channels, aquaculture ponds, or reservoirs in sandy soil
(Chu et al. 2013a , b ; Stabnikov et al. 2011 ); for sand immobilization and sup-
pression of dust (Bang et al. 2011 ; Stabnikov et al. 2013a ); to reinforce sand in
near-shore areas (van der Ruyt and van der Zon 2009 ).
The applications of MICP in civil engineering can be as follows: the production
of bricks (Sarda et al. 2009 ; Dhami et al. 2012 ; Raut et al. 2014 ); the remediation
of cracks in concrete and rocks and increase of durability of concrete structures
(De Muynck et al. 2008a , b , 2010 , 2012 ; Achal et al. 2010 ; van Tittelboom et al.
2010 ; Ghosh et al. 2005 ; Li and Qu 2012 ); the concrete improvement (Pacheco-
Torgal and Labrincha 2013a; Pacheco-Torgal and Jalali, 2014 ); the self-remedi-
ation of concrete (Jonkers 2007 ; Jonkers et al. 2010 ; De Muynck et al. 2008a , b ;
Wiktor and Jonkers 2011 ; Ghosh et al. 2006 ; Siddique and Chahal 2011 ; Wang
et al. 2012 ); the modification of mortar (Ghosh et al. 2009 ; Vempada et al. 2011 );
consolidation of porous stone (Jimenez-Lopez et al. 2008 ); the bioremediation of
weathered-building stone surfaces (Fernandes 2006 ; Webster and May 2006 ;
Achal et al. 2011 ); the fractured rock permeability reduction (Cuthbert et al. 2013 );
dust suppression (Bang et al. 2011 ; Stabnikov et al. 2013a ); the construction of
ponds and channels (Chu et al. 2012b , 2013a ; Stabnikov et al. 2011 ); the miti-
gation of earth quake-caused soil liquefaction (DeJong et al. 2006 , 2013 ; Chu et al.
2009a ; Weil et al. 2012 ; Montoya et al. 2012 ); the encapsulation of soft clay
(Ivanov et al. 2014 ); the coating of surfaces with calcite for enhanced marine
epibiota colonization (Ivanov et al. not published data).
In majority of the biocementation research, the Gram-positive bacterial species
Sporosarcina pasteurii (former Bacillus pasteurii), especially the strain S. paste-
urii ATCC 11859 (DSM 33), is used because of its high urease activity and ability
to grow at pH above 8.5 and at high concentration of calcium, at least at 0.75 M
Ca 2+ . Last property is especially important for MICP. Other physiologically
similar species using for biocementation are the representatives of the genus
Bacillus: B. cereus (Castanier et al. 2000 ); B. megaterium (Bang et al. 2001 ;
Dhami et al. 2014 ), B. sphaericus (Hammes et al. 2003 ; De Muynck et al. 2008a ,
b ; Wang et al. 2012 ), B. pseudofirmus (Jonkers et al. 2010 ), B. subtilis (Reddy
et al. 2010 ), B. alkalinitrilicus (Wiktor and Jonkers 2011 ), B. licheniformis (Va-
habi et al. 2014 ), B. lentus (Sarda et al. 2009 ) and not identified species (Stabnikov
et al. 2011 , 2013b ; Hammes et al. 2003 ; Lisdiyanti et al. 2011 ). It is well known
that some halotolerant species of genus Staphylococcus exhibited high urease
activity (Jin et al. 2004 ; Christians et al. 1991 ). Halotolerant urease-producing
strain of Gram-positive bacteria of Staphylococcus succinus was isolated from
water of the Dead Sea with salinity 34 % (Stabnikov et al. 2013b ). However, the
strains of S. succinis are often hemolytic and toxigenic ones (Zell et al. 2008 ) and