Efficacy of milk powder additive in biocementation technique for soil stabilization

Abstract

Microbial-Induced Carbonate Precipitation (MICP) is an emerging, environmental-friendly, and sustainable technology that has shown great potential for soil stabilization. However, its process efficiency has been recognized as a major challenge for its practical application in engineering. Non-fat powdered milk (NFPM) has been shown to have positive effects in enzymatical-induced carbonate precipitation (EICP), so in this study, we evaluated its use as an additive in the MICP process. A comparison between conventional MICP and NFPM-modified MICP was conducted, including chemical conversion efficiency, urea hydrolysis rate, and mechanical performance of sandy soils. A series of laboratory tests including precipitation analysis, unconfined compressive strength (UCS), and microstructure analysis were conducted. The results showed that the addition of NFPM could improve urease activity, enhance chemical conversion efficiency, and lead to superior strength improvement compared to conventional MICP. Microstructure and particle size analysis revealed that the presence of NFPM was beneficial for larger crystal cluster formation between sand grains, which could result in stronger bonds and better mechanical performance. In summary, this study indicates that the use of NFPM in MICP process can represent a more sustainable and economically viable approach for soil stabilization. The findings provide valuable information for engineers and researchers working in soil stabilization and environmental engineering, highlighting the potential of using natural additives such as NFPM to promote the sustainable development of MICP technique.

Keywords

Milk Powder / MICP / UCS / Chemical Conversion Efficiency

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Jie Yin: Writing - review & editing, Formal analysis, Data curation. Lexuan Zhang: Validation, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation. Ke Zhang: Validation, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation. Cheng Zhang: Visualization, Validation, Methodology, Formal analysis, Data curation. Yang Yang: Writing - review & editing, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Conceptualization. Mohamed A. Shahin: Data curation, Methodology, Validation. Liang Cheng: Writing - review & editing, Validation, Funding acquisition, Data curation, Conceptualization.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgments

The work was supported by NSFC Major International Joint Research Project POW3M (51920105013). The authors also gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51978315). The corresponding author also acknowledges support from the Jiangsu Government Scholarship for Overseas Studies (UJS-2023–001). The opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the sponsors. The authors also would like to express appreciation to the editor and anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.

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