Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Performance of microbial-induced carbonate precipitation on wind erosion control of sandy soil

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Wind erosion is a serious problem throughout the world which results in soil and environment degradation and air pollution. The main objective of this study was to evaluate feasibility of microbial-induced carbonate precipitation, as a novel soil-strengthening technique, to reduce wind erosion risk of a sandy soil. For this purpose, the erosion of biocemented soil samples was investigated experimentally in a wind tunnel under the condition of wind velocity of 45 km h−1. The weight loss of treated samples relative to the weight loss of control treatment was 1.29 and 0.16 % for low and high bacterial mix concentrations, respectively, indicating a significant improvement in erosion control in biologically treated samples. The effect of biological treatment on wind erosion control was even superior at the higher velocities. Thereafter, the penetration resistance of the surface layers as a simple index of resistance against wind erosion was measured. Significant improvements in the penetration resistance of the treated soil samples were observed. Although low bacterial mix concentrations did not significantly improve the penetration resistance of the samples, significant improvements in the penetration resistance of the treated soil samples were observed reaching to the highest measured strength (56 kPa) in high bacterial mix concentrations samples. Finally, the morphology of precipitated CaCO3 crystals using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray powder diffraction analysis showed that the CaCO3 was mainly precipitated as vaterite crystals forming point-to-point contacts between the sand granules.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Al-Thawadi S (2008) High strength in-situ biocementation of soil by calcite precipitating locally isolated ureolytic bacteria. Phd Thesis, Murdoch University

  • Amidi S, Wang J (2015) Surface treatment of concrete bricks using calcium carbonate precipitation. Constr Build Mater 80:273–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Armbrust D, Dickerson J (1971) Temporary wind erosion control: cost and effectiveness of 34 commercial materials. J Soil Water Conserv 26:154–157

    Google Scholar 

  • Armbrust D, Lyles L (1975) Soil stabilizers to control wind erosion. Soil Cond 7:77–82

    Google Scholar 

  • Bang SC, Bang SS (2011) KGS Awards Lectures: application of microbiologically induced soil stabilization technique for dust suppression. Int J Geo-Eng 3:27–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Bang S, Lippert J, Yerra U, Mulukutla S, Ramakrishnan V (2010) Microbial calcite, a bio-based smart nanomaterial in concrete remediation. Int J Smart Nano Mater 1:28–39

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Canakci H, Sidik W, Kilic IH (2015) Effect of bacterial calcium carbonate precipitation on compressibility and shear strength of organic soil. Soils Found 55:1211–1221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chu J, Ivanov V, Lee M, Oh X, He J (2009) Soil and waste treatment using biocement. In: Proceedings of the international symposium on ground improvement technologies and case histories, ISGI, vol 9, pp 165–170

  • De Muynck W, Debrouwer D, De Belie N, Verstraete W (2008) Bacterial carbonate precipitation improves the durability of cementitious materials. Cem Concr Res 38:1005–1014

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeJong JT, Mortensen BM, Martinez BC, Nelson DC (2010) Bio-mediated soil improvement. Ecol Eng 36:197–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diouf B, Skidmore E, Layton J, Hagen L (1990) Stabilizing fine sand by adding clay: laboratory wind tunnel study. Soil Technol 3:21–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fryrear DW, Skidmore E (1985) Methods for controlling wind erosion. In: Soil erosion and crop productivity, Madison: American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America, pp 443–457

  • Fujita Y, Taylor JL, Wendt LM, Reed DW, Smith RW (2010) Evaluating the potential of native ureolytic microbes to remediate a 90Sr contaminated environment. Environ Sci Technol 44:7652–7658

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gillette DA, Adams J, Endo A, Smith D, Kihl R (1980) Threshold velocities for input of soil particles into the air by desert soils. J Geophys Res Oceans (1978–2012) 85:5621–5630

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gillette DA, Adams J, Muhs D, Kihl R (1982) Threshold friction velocities and rupture moduli for crusted desert soils for the input of soil particles into the air. J Geophys Res Oceans (1978–2012) 87:9003–9015

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goudie AS, Middleton NJ (eds) (2006) Desert Dust in the Global System. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 193–199

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hammes F, Verstraete W (2002) Key roles of pH and calcium metabolism in microbial carbonate precipitation. Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol 1:3–7

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Han Z, Wang T, Dong Z, Hu Y, Yao Z (2007) Chemical stabilization of mobile dunefields along a highway in the Taklimakan Desert of China. J Arid Environ 68:260–270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • He J-J, Cai Q-G, Tang Z-J (2008) Wind tunnel experimental study on the effect of PAM on soil wind erosion control. Environ Monit Assess 145:185–193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kralj D, Brečević L, Nielsen AE (1990) Vaterite growth and dissolution in aqueous solution I. Kinetics of crystal growth. J Cryst Growth 104:793–800

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lian B, Hu Q, Chen J, Ji J, Teng HH (2006) Carbonate biomineralization induced by soil bacterium Bacillus megaterium. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 70:5522–5535

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liang J, Guo Z, Deng L, Liu Y (2015) Mature fine tailings consolidation through microbial induced calcium carbonate precipitation. Can J Civ Eng 42:1–4

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lohnes RA, Coree B (2002) Determination and evaluation of alternate methods for managing and controlling highway-related dust. Iowa Department of Transportation

  • Lyles L, Schrandt R, Schmeidler N (1974) Commercial soil stabilizers for temporary wind-erosion control. Trans ASAE 17:1015–1019

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer F, Bang S, Min S, Stetler L, Bang S (2011) Microbiologically-induced soil stabilization: application of Sporosarcina pasteurii N for fugitive dust control. In: Geo-Frontiers 2011@ sAdvances in Geotechnical Engineering, ASCE, pp 4002–4011

  • Montoya B, DeJong J, Boulanger R (2013) Dynamic response of liquefiable sand improved by microbial-induced calcite precipitation. Géotechnique 63:302–312

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Movahedan M, Abbasi N, Keramati M (2012) Wind erosion control of soils using polymeric materials. Eurasian J Soil Sci 1(2):81–86

    Google Scholar 

  • Shulga G, Betkers T (2011) Lignin-based dust suppressant and its effect on the properties of light soil. In: Proceedings of the 8th international conference on environmental engineering, pp 19–20

  • Stabnikov V, Naeimi M, Ivanov V, Chu J (2011) Formation of water-impermeable crust on sand surface using biocement. Cem Concr Res 41:1143–1149

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stocks-Fischer S, Galinat JK, Bang SS (1999) Microbiological precipitation of CaCO3. Soil Biol Biochem 31:1563–1571

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • van Paassen L (2009) Biogrout, ground improvement by microbial induced carbonate precipitation. PhD Thesis, Delft University of Technology

  • van Paassen LA, Ghose R, van der Linden TJ, van der Star WR, van Loosdrecht MC (2010) Quantifying biomediated ground improvement by ureolysis: large-scale biogrout experiment. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 136:1721–1728

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warren LA, Maurice PA, Parmar N, Ferris FG (2001) Microbially mediated calcium carbonate precipitation: implications for interpreting calcite precipitation and for solid-phase capture of inorganic contaminants. Geomicrobiol J 18:93–115

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Washbourne C-L, Renforth P, Manning D (2012) Investigating carbonate formation in urban soils as a method for capture and storage of atmospheric carbon. Sci Total Environ 431:166–175

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Whiffin VS, van Paassen LA, Harkes MP (2007) Microbial carbonate precipitation as a soil improvement technique. Geomicrobiol J 24:417–423

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to department of Soil Sciences, Urmia University, Iran, for the experimental facilities.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biotechnology Research Center (BRC), Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran

    M. Maleki & S. Ebrahimi

  2. Department of Soil Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran

    F. Asadzadeh

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran

    M. Emami Tabrizi

Authors
  1. M. Maleki
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. S. Ebrahimi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. F. Asadzadeh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. M. Emami Tabrizi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. Ebrahimi.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Maleki, M., Ebrahimi, S., Asadzadeh, F. et al. Performance of microbial-induced carbonate precipitation on wind erosion control of sandy soil. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 13, 937–944 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-015-0921-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-015-0921-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation