Abstract
Economic and efficient application of enzyme induced calcium carbonate precipitation (EICP) requires optimisation of the process and understanding of the precipitate microstructure. The objective of this study was to compare the precipitate efficiency and the interface shearing resistance of the precipitate, using Taguchi method. The factors which controlled the precipitate were urea-calcium chloride concentration, urease activity and reaction duration. Precipitation tests and torsional shear tests were performed using orthogonal L25 with 25 array runs. Taguchi method suggests two different optima for precipitate efficiency and interface shearing resistance. However, to obtain a single optimum through simultaneous optimisation of both the responses, Taguchi method was integrated to grey relational analysis. The obtained optimum, henceforth, was set at 0.5 mol/L of urea and calcium chloride concentration, 45 kU/L of urease activity and reaction duration of 48 h. The results show that the interface shearing resistance was controlled by the morphology of the precipitate, especially since the chemical concentration and kinetics of ureolysis resulted in different precipitate morphology. All the control factors were significant, including the contribution of the urease activity. Urease activity enhanced the precipitate efficiency and the interface shearing resistance. Aggregation of particles at higher urease activity resulted in improved shearing resistance.
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All data generated and analysed during this study are included in the manuscript.
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Acknowledgements
The first author acknowledges the financial support from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in the form of research scholarships. Jack bean meal was purchased from Alpha chemika. Analytical grade urea and granular calcium chloride anhydrous were purchased from Merck Life Science Pvt. Ltd. and SD Fine-Chem Ltd., respectively.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Experimentations, data collection, data analysis and first draft were written by AT Conceptualization, supervision, review, editing and rewriting of the paper was done by AJ.
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Aishwarya, T., Juneja, A. Efficiency and Morphology of Calcium Carbonate Precipitate Induced by Urease Enzymes. Geotech Geol Eng 42, 1153–1171 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-023-02610-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-023-02610-6