Nano-Assisted Enzyme-Induced Calcium Precipitation (EICP) for Acidic Soil Improvement
Publication: Geo-Congress 2024
ABSTRACT
Enzyme-induced calcium precipitation (EICP) is a promising technique for soil improvement. EICP utilizes enzymes to induce the precipitation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) within soil pores, enhancing their mechanical properties. This study investigates the potential of using iron oxide (Fe2O3), aluminum oxide (Al2O3), and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles to enhance the performance of EICP-treated sands in acidic and alkaline environments. The pH, unconfined compressive strength (UCS), and calcium carbonate content of treated specimens were evaluated. Results showed that ZnO nanoparticles diminished the EICP effect, while Al2O3 nanoparticles improved UCS by 6.4% at a concentration of 0.20%. Fe2O3 nanoparticles retained 28.5% and 13.7% of UCS at concentrations of 0.10% and 0.40%, respectively. The addition of nanoparticles reduced the calcium carbonate content, with ZnO-EICP showing the highest reduction (~90%). This research highlights the need for further enhancement of the EICP technique in acidic and alkaline environments.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this chapter.
REFERENCES
Almajed, A., Lemboye, K., Arab, M. G., and Alnuaim, A. (2020). Mitigating wind erosion of sand using biopolymer-assisted EICP technique. Soils and Foundations, 60(2), 356–371.
Alotaibi, E., Arab, M. G., and Omar, M. (2022b). Combination of Enzyme-Induced Calcium Carbonate Precipitation (EICP) and Macro-Synthetic Fibers for Soil Improvement. In Geo-Congress 2022 (pp. 408–417).
Alotaibi, E., Arab, M. G., Abdallah, M., Nassif, N., and Omar, M. (2022a). Life cycle assessment of biocemented sands using enzyme induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) for soil stabilization applications. Scientific reports, 12(1), 1–13.
Arab, M. G., Alsodi, R., Almajed, A., Yasuhara, H., Zeiada, W., and Shahin, M. A. (2021a). State-of-the-art review of enzyme-induced calcite precipitation (EICP) for ground improvement: Applications and prospects. Geosciences, 11(12), 492.
Arab, M. G., Alsodi, R., Shanablah, A., Kavazanjian, E., and Zeiada, W. (2021b). Evaluation of microstructural strength of bio-cemented sand crust using rheometry. Géotechnique Letters, 11(4), 306–312.
Arab, M. G., Refaei, M., Alotaibi, E., Omar, M., Almajed, A., and Haridy, S., (2023). Optimizing the compressive strength of sodium alginate mod-ified EICP treated sand using design of experiments. Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, Accepted.
Berg, J. M., Romoser, A., Banerjee, N., Zebda, R., and Sayes, C. M. (2009). The relationship between pH and zeta potential of∼ 30 nm metal oxide nanoparticle suspensions relevant to in vitro toxicological evaluations. Nanotoxicology, 3(4), 276–283.
Chang, Q., Zhou, J. E., Wang, Y., Wang, J., and Meng, G. (2010). Hydrophilic modification of Al2O3 microfiltration membrane with nano-sized γ-Al2O3 coating. Desalination, 262(1-3), 110–114.
Dilrukshi, R. A. N., and Kawasaki, S. (2016). Effective use of plant-derived urease in the field of geoenvironmental. Geotechnical Engineering. J Civil Environ Eng, 6(207), 2.
Global Soil Data Task. (2014). Global Soil Data Products CD-ROM Contents (IGBP-DIS). Data Set. Available online [http://daac.ornl.gov] from Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, U.S.A. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/565.
Krishnan, V., Khodadadi Tirkolaei, H., Martin, K., Hamdan, N., Van Paassen, L. A., and Kavazanjian, E., Jr. (2021). Variability in the unconfined compressive strength of EICP-treated “standard” sand. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 147(4), 06021001.
Kulkarni, P. P., and Mandal, J. N. (2022). Evaluation of strength characteristics of soil stabilized with nano zinc oxide—cement mixes for low volume road applications. International Journal of Geosynthetics and Ground Engineering, 8(1), 7.
Kulkarni, P. P., and Mandal, J. N. (2022a). Strength evaluation of soil stabilized with nano silica-cement mixes as road construction material. Construction and Building Materials, 314, 125363.
Lai, H. J., Cui, M. J., and Chu, J. (2022). Effect of pH on soil improvement using one-phase-low-pH MICP or EICP biocementation method. Acta Geotechnica, 1–14.
Lemboye, K., Almajed, A., Hamid, W., and Arab, M. (2021). Permeability investigation on sand treated using enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation and biopolymers. Innovative Infrastructure Solutions, 6, 1–8.
Lu, D., Cheng, W., Zhang, T., Lu, X., Liu, Q., Jiang, J., and Ma, J. (2016). Hydrophilic Fe2O3 dynamic membrane mitigating fouling of support ceramic membrane in ultrafiltration of oil/water emulsion. Separation and Purification Technology, 165, 1–9.
Luo, H. L., Hsiao, D. H., Lin, D. F., and Lin, C. K. (2012). Cohesive soil stabilized using sewage sludge ash/cement and nano aluminum oxide. International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology, 1(1), 83–99.
Martin, K. K., Tirkolaei, H. K., and Kavazanjian, E., Jr. (2021). Mid-scale biocemented soil columns via enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation (EICP). Soils and Foundations, 61(6), 1529–1542.
Moghal, A. A. B., Lateef, M. A., Abu Sayeed Mohammed, S., Ahmad, M., Usman, A. R., and Almajed, A. (2020). Heavy metal immobilization studies and enhancement in geotechnical properties of cohesive soils by EICP technique. Applied Sciences, 10(21), 7568.
Nafisi, A., Montoya, B. M., and Evans, T. M. (2020). Shear strength envelopes of biocemented sands with varying particle size and cementation level. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 146(3), 04020002.
Shinde, V. R., Lokhande, C. D., Mane, R. S., and Han, S. H. (2005). Hydrophobic and textured ZnO films deposited by chemical bath deposition: annealing effect. Applied Surface Science, 245(1-4), 407–413.
Slessarev, E. W., Lin, Y., Bingham, N. L., Johnson, J. E., Dai, Y., Schimel, J. P., and Chadwick, O. A. (2016). Water balance creates a threshold in soil pH at the global scale. Nature, 540(7634), 567–569.
US Silica Company. (2022). Silica Sand, Ground Silica and Fine Ground Silica. Retrieved 23-5-2023 from: https://www.ussilica.com/sites/default/files/2022-11/Silica%20OSHA%20GHS%20SDS%20%286-22%29.pdf.
Xiao, Y., Stuedlein, A. W., Ran, J., Evans, T. M., Cheng, L., Liu, H., and Chu, J. (2019). Effect of particle shape on strength and stiffness of biocemented glass beads. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 145(11), 06019016.
Yao, K., Wang, W., Li, N., Zhang, C., and Wang, L. (2019). Investigation on strength and microstructure characteristics of nano-MgO admixed with cemented soft soil. Construction and Building Materials, 206, 160–168.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Geo-Congress 2024
Pages: 10 - 19
History
Published online: Feb 22, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- [Inorganic compounds]
- Acids
- Biological processes
- Calcium
- Calcium carbonate
- Chemical compounds
- Chemical elements
- Chemicals
- Chemistry
- Climates
- Engineering materials (by type)
- Environmental engineering
- Enzymes
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Material mechanics
- Materials engineering
- Meteorology
- Nanomechanics
- Organic compounds
- Particles
- Precipitation
- Soil dynamics
- Soil mechanics
- Soil stabilization
- Waste management
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.