Bio Cementation: A Novel Technique and Approach Towards Sustainable Material

Sweety Parmar , Darshan Marjadi

A large number of human activities and natural process creates disturbance in concrete structures that ultimately reduces the service life of a structure. The cement industry produces about 5% of the global anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Calcium carbonate is one of the most common minerals widespread on earth. Microbial induced carbonate precipitation is a process by which living organisms produces inorganic solids. Bacteria are incredibly diverse and abundant and many bacterial species contribute to the precipitation of mineral carbonates in various natural environments. Production occurs in an alkaline environment and which leads to calcite precipitation. The hydrolysis of urea by the enzyme urease is unique in that it is one of the few biologically occurring reactions that can generate carbonates. The ubiquity and importance of microbes in inducing calcite precipitation make “Bio cement” a most important metabolic product of Biomineralization which can remediate and restore such structure. Feasibility studies on the use of sludge to produce cement as a means of ultimate sludge disposal have been initiated.