Investigate the potential of applying microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) for bio-consolidation

Abstract

My thesis project aimed to investigate the potential of ureolytic bacteria, which were isolated from soil near the Rock lakes in the National University area, in bioconsolidation, to improve the strength of concrete in particular. Two strains of bacteria, O1 and O2, were chosen based on their ability of inducing calcium precipitation and EPS extraction compared with three other strains which were N3, N4 and N5. The amount of calcium precipitate induced by O1 and O2 strains were estimated at 56% and 50%. Then, evaluate the effect of different pH values and Calcium concentration to the improvement of concrete strength. As the result, at the condition of pH = 8 and calcium concentration 1.1 M seemed to give the best performance of strength improvement.