Effect of Temperature, pH, and Reaction Duration on Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation

Abstract

In this study, the amount of calcite precipitate resulting from microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) was estimated in order to determine the optimal conditions for precipitation. Two microbial species (Staphylococcus saprophyticus and Sporosarcina pasteurii) were tested by varying certain parameters such as (1) initial potential of hydrogen (pH) of urea-CaCl2 medium, (2) temperature during precipitation, and (3) the reaction duration. The pH values used for testing were 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, the temperatures were 20, 30, 40, and 50 °C, and the reaction durations were 2, 3, and 4 days. Maximum calcite precipitation was observed at a pH of 7 and temperature of 30 °C. Most of the precipitation occurred within a reaction duration of 3 days. Under similar conditions, the amount of calcite precipitated by S. saprophyticus was estimated to be five times more than that by S. pasteurii. Both the species were sensitive to temperature; however, S. saprophyticus was less sensitive to pH and required a shorter reaction duration than S. pasteurii.

Temperature and pH growth profile prediction of newly isolated bacterial strains from alkaline soils

“…to group the samples according to their similarity. 33 The complete linkage algorithm and city block (Manhattan) distances were used to explain the differences in the temperature growth profile of the isolates, which were grouped in three clusters (Fig. 1).…”

Bioprecipitation of calcium carbonate mediated by ureolysis: A review

“…The influence of pH on MICP is indisputably important because it affects microbial activity, bacterial growth, urease activity, and CaCO 3 precipitation [65]. Decomposition of urea by urease that releases NH 3 (g) and CO 2 (g) and the dissolution of NH 3 (g) in the urea-CaCl 2 leads to a variation of pH during ureolysis process [85].…”

Optimizing protocols for microbial induced calcite precipitation (MICP) for soil improvement–a review

“…pH and temperature pH and temperature have a direct bearing on the growth and urease activity of the bacteria. S. pasteurii is sensitive to pH and temperature during the cementation process as some studies have shown (Kim et al, 2018;Sun et al, 2019). pH and temperature also have impacts on the equilibria of dissolution and precipitation during MICP process.…”

“…During MICP process, Stocks-Fischer et al (1999) determined that MICP starts at pH ¼ 8.3 and its rate increases up to pH 9. Kim et al (2018) studied the effect of the pH (in the range of 6-10) of an urea-CaCl 2 solution and found that pH ¼ 7 was the optimal condition for biocementation.…”

“…In Sun et al (2019) study, 30 C resulted in the highest rate of CaCO 3 precipitation. Kim et al (2018) studied the influence of temperatures between 20 and 50 C and found that 20, 25, 30 C were the optimal temperatures for different strains of S. pasteurii.…”