Cementation of loose sand particles based on bio-cement

Abstract

Loose sand particles could be cemented to sandstone by bio-cement (microbial induced magnesium carbonate). The bio-sandstone was firstly prepared, and then the compressive strength and the porosity of the sandstone cemented by microbial induced magnesium carbonate were tested to characterize the cementation effectiveness. In addition, the formed mineral composition and the microstructure of bio-sandstone were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. The experimental results show that the feasibility of binding loose sand particles using microbial induced magnesium carbonate precipitation is available and the acquired compressive strength of bio-sandstone can be excellent at certain ages. Moreover, the compressive strength and the porosity could be improved with the increase of microbial induced magnesium carbonate content. XRD results indicate that the morphology of magnesium carbonate induced by microbe appears as needles and SEM results show that the cementation of loose sand particles to sandstone mainly relies on the microbial induced formation of magnesium carbonate precipitation around individual particles and at particle-particle contacts.

Keywords

bio-cement / microbe / magnesium carbonate precipitation / bio-sandstone / compressive

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