Construction and Building Materials 190 (2018) 861–869

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Application of microbial biocementation to improve the

physico-mechanical properties of sandy soil
Abbas M. Sharaky a, Naglaa S. Mohamed a, Mohie Eldin Elmashad b, Nehad M. Shredah c,⇑
a
Natural Resources Department, Institute of African Research and Studies, Cairo University, Egypt
b
Soil Mechanic Department, Construction Research Institute, National Water Research Center, Egypt
c
Soil Department, Central Laboratory for Environmental Quality Monitoring, National Water Research Centre, Egypt

h i g h l i g h t s

Use the media without centrifuge processes are faster, effort less and easily used in filed.

Use non sterilization media has no negative effect on bacterial activity or amount of calcite precipitated.

Add fixation solution, after the bacterial suspension led to promote cell adsorption in sand bodies.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Biological process in soil improvement which is known as biocementation soil improvement technique
Received 27 May 2018 has shown greater potential in geotechnical engineering applications such as slope stabilization and
Received in revised form 13 September increasing sand strength. Egypt has more than 50,000 km irrigation and drainage channels. The main type
2018
of soil constituting a soil layer of most of the canal embankment in the Nile delta is the loosely soil. It is
Accepted 20 September 2018
exposed to slope stability problems. This work focused on studying stabilization of the loosely soils via
biocementation process and it was applied on sands to improve their mechanical properties by different
treatment methods using bacteria named Sporosarcina pasteurii. These methods are injection with and
Keywords:
Sporosarcina pasteurii
without fixations, and mixing method. The main results showed that the injection methods of the bacte-
Biocementation ria with fixation solution in the treated soil was effective than the injection without fixation solution at
XRD the same conditions. Also, it is suggested to add solutions gradually to prevent precipitation of calcite on
Soil stabilization the surface of sand. Furthermore, using a growth media without sterilization has no negative effect on the
Compressive strength bacterial activity. Meanwhile, using a growth media without centrifuge processes and bacteria incubation
Direct shear at 12 h instead of 24 h were more economy. This method leads to improvement of soil of large scale in
site with low effort and relatively at short time when using the mixing method. The studied physicome-
chanical properties were significantly increased in biocemented sand for all methods used and they were
superior for the injection with fixation method. The XRD results and SEM images indicated the deposition
of calcium carbonates in biocemented sand. It is concluded that Sporosarcina pasteurii can be used com-
mercially for sand biocementation process.
Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
It is necessary to maintain the efficiency of Egyptian irrigation
and drainage system of the River Nile, their branches, canals and
drains to keep water management and distribution process. Water
channel embankments and their side slope that made of loosely
sand are exposed to slope stability problems. These problems are
considered one of the common channel embankments problems
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: n.hafez84@yahoo.com (N.M. Shredah).
in the delta of Nile River, Egypt. Soil improvement is one of the
most economic engineering solutions to overcome soil problems
[1].
Soil improvement is a general term of any physical, chemical,
biological, and combined methods of changing the natural soil to
meet engineering purposes [2].
Soil improvement is an important respect for improving the
engineering properties of soils used for channel side slope and
embankments. It has the purpose of increasing strength and dura-
bility to prevent erosion and dust generation, and result in the
modification of the properties of soils, such as plasticity, compress-
ibility, and permeability [3].

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2018.09.159
0950-0618/Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
862 A.M. Sharaky et al. / Construction and Building Materials 190 (2018) 861–869
To stabilize loosely soil, the most common or usual approach
was by removing the loosely soil first. The cost involved for replac-
ing the materials was quite high, thus it leads to various researches
to find non-traditional methods in order to encounter this problem
economically [4].
Different soil stabilization techniques are used all over the
world. Traditionally and widely accepted types of soil stabilization
techniques use products such as cement-sludge ash [5], cement fly
ash, lime fly ash [6], groundnut shell ash and waste fiber [7],
cement kiln dust [1], slag, fly ash and waste of iron hydroxide
[8], Portland cement and bitumen emulsion mixture [9], lime sta-
bilization [10], geotextile stabilization [11], calcium based stabi-
lizer [12], xanthan gum [13], magnesium chloride and an alkaline
activator composed of a combination of NaOH and Na2SiO3 [14].
Biocementation can be considered as a practicable technique
that can improve soil with supporting new and existing structures
and can be used in many geotechnical engineering applications,
such as slope stabilization and subgrade reinforcement [15].
One of the most significant characteristics of biocemented sam-
ples is the noticeable increase in hardness and the significant
decrease in permeability [16,17]. Biocementation treatment pro-
cess can be achieved over a wide range of soil types, particle sizes,
concentrations of ammonium chloride and range of salinities [18].
Bacteria, which are able to transfer urea into ammonium and
carbonate, are injected in the soil, followed by a solution contain-
ing urea and calcium chloride. The produced carbonate precipitates
with calcium Eqs. (1) and (2) [19,20].
Urease
COðNH2 Þ2 þ 2H2 O ƒƒƒƒ! 2NHþ4 þ CO2
3 ð1Þ
CO3 + Ca2þ ! CaCO3 ð2Þ
Ureolytic bacteria especially Sporosarcina pasteurii (formerly
Bacillus pasteurii) has generated a lot of interest in this area, and
has been studied extensively [21–23]. Sporosarcina pasteurii had
urease activity which not repressed by the high content of ammo-
nium [24]. Also, urease-producing bacteria for biocementation
applications should not be pathogenic, genetically being modified
or enclosing any exchangeable elements that may enhance the
pathogenicity of environmental microbes [15].
An increasing focus on the use of more environmentally friendly
and sustainable materials in the built and natural environments,
alternative eco-friendly additives to traditional chemical stabiliz-
ers have the potential to significantly change the field of soil
improvement worldwide [13].
The biocementation is environmentally friendly for soil improv-
ing because these bacteria are native to the earth; they may not
likely cause any environmental hazard in future [25–27].
Biocementation technologies have been successfully demon-
strated for cementation of sand columns, repair of limestone mon-
uments; to some extent for remediation of cracks in concrete [28];
enhance stability of the slopes and dams [29,30]; road construction
and prevention of soil erosion [31,32]; remediation of structures
that contain hazardous materials [33] and remediation of various
heavy metals such as arsenic, copper, lead and chromium [34].
Many physical, chemical and biological factors which influence
the transport of bacteria have been investigated, including: fluid
properties like chemistry and flow regime, temperature, salinity,
humidity, pH, total volume of bioavailable nutrients injected and
ionic strength of the suspending medium, which can be deduced
from electrophoresis mobility measurements [35,15], cell wall
characteristics like number of bacteria present, metabolic activity
of bacterial cells, cell shape, dimension, arrangement, hydropho-
bicity, surface electric charge and appendages [36] and solid prop-
erties, like grain size distribution, porous media properties; surface
texture and mineralogy [37].
Mortensen et al. [18] assessed the effects of some factors that
may be encountered in field during biocementation treatment
and the precipitation induced by the bacteria using the bacterium
Sporosarcina pasteurii. The authors revealed that biocementation
treatment process can be achieved over a wide range of soil types,
particle sizes, concentrations of ammonium chloride and range of
salinities.
The factor with the greatest predictive power for biocementa-
tion was the f-potential. The f-potential is a measure of the poten-
tial of the electric layer at the surface of the cells. The f-potential is
an important factor in the adhesion and surface colonization by
bacteria [28]. The second important key factor was the specific
urea degradation rate. Bacteria with a high initial specific urea
degradation rate show a high affinity for urea. This allows for a
high substrate turnover for a limited amount of cells [38].
This research evaluates the possibility of using biocementation
treatment process by Sporosarcina pasteurii to improve the physi-
comechanical properties of sand soil.
2. Experimental procedures
2.1. Materials
Four different materials were used in the present study, sand, ureolytic bacteria
and cementation solution (CaCl2 and urea). Sand soil was collected from Abu Roash
sand quarry. It was located about 8 km to the north of Giza, Egypt. The natural sand
used in this study was medium to fine sand with traces of fine gravel as shown in
Fig. 1. According to the physical properties and chemical composition of the sand
used Table 1, the used sand is siliceous (SiO2: 96.12%). The studied sand sample
of medium alkalinity type and free of sulfate based material.
The used bacterium was Sporosarcina pasteurii. It was delivered as powder and
purchased from Deutsche Sammlungvan Mikroorganismen und Zellkalturen, Ger-
many by National Research Center, Egypt.
All chemical used in this investigation were purchased from Loba Chemie Com-
pany, Mumbai, India. The physical and chemical properties of each component used
are given in Table 2.
2.2. Sand sample preparation
The sand was dried naturally on open area, and it used as received from the
quarry. All columns used in this study were made of Perspex tubing with internal
diameter of 5 and 7.5 cm and length of 15 and 40 cm. In all samples columns a piece
of cotton was put at the bottom to prevent sand from flowing out. The sand was
placed in the tube and vibrated completely. The tube was fastened vertically; finally
the top of columns was covered with a layer of cotton to regulate the liquid move-
ment (Fig. 2). The liquid inside the column was moved down naturally under the
gravity force.
2.3. Bacterial suspension preparation
The Sporosarcina pasteurii were cultivated under aerobic condition in a medium
consisting of 20 g/l yeast extract and10 g/l ammonium chloride, Fig. 3. Medium pH
was adjusted to 9 by 4 N NaOH before autoclaving. A bacterial suspension was
grown to late exponential phase to a final optical density of 2.3 (OD600).
2.4. Chemical solutions preparation
The cementation solution was prepared by mixing of 1 mol (60.06 g/l) of urea
and 1 mol (147.02 g/l) of anhydrous calcium chloride and all are dissolved in
2 L of distilled water, and fixation solution was prepared by adding 0.05 mol
(7.35 g/l) of anhydrous calcium chloride in liter of distilled water.
2.5. Methods of biocementation
Three biocementation methods were used shown in Table 3. The used methods
are described as follows:
1. The injection methods (samples IF and IWF)
This method is divided to two classes namely, injection with fixation and injec-
tion without fixation. In these methods, the bacterial strain are cultured in sterilized
media and incubated for 24 h at 30 °C under shacking condition at 200 rpm by sha-
ker. The cells were extracted from growth media by centrifuge it at 4000 cycle/min
for 10 min .After centrifuging, the cells were removed and injected into the sand
column.
 A.M. Sharaky et al. / Construction and Building Materials 190 (2018) 861–869 863

Fig. 1. Grain size distribution curve of the sand used.

Table 1
Physical and chemical composition of sand used.

Engineering and physicochemical properties Unit Values

Specific gravity 2.88
BS classification sand
pH 8.18
TDS ppm 449.5
Cl ppm 39.5
SO3 ppm 0.0
SiO2 % 96.12
Fe2O3 % 0.44
Al2O3 % 1.05
CaO % 1.33
CaCO3 % 2.39

2. The mixing method (samples MS and MUS)

In this method, the bacterial strains are inoculated in a sterilized and unsteril-
ized growth media and incubating for 12 h at 30 °C under aerobic conditions using
air pump (Diaphragm vacuum pump; type/s]m3/h[:ME2/1.9; Germany). The growth
media were used directly without centrifugation. It was mixed with the cementa-
tion solution and placed inside the sand column. The steps of treatment are illus-
trated in Fig. 4. All the specimens are kept at room temperature (25 ± 2) °C until
testing.
3. Testing procedures
After ending the biocementation process, a series of tests were
carried out in order to determine the primary engineering proper-
Fig. 2. Photography showing sand column through treatment.
ties for the biocemented samples in terms of sand grain size [39],
stability in water [40], unconfined compressive strength [41],
direct shear [42,43], Point load test [44], bulk density [45], slake
durability index test [46], cementing material ratio content [47].
Also, X-ray diffraction (XRD) used to characterize the samples
minerologyically [40]. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) tech-
niques used to characterize the samples micro structure (PHILIPS
XL20 Scanning Electron Microscope, Eindhoven and the Nether-

Table 2
Physical and chemical properties of chemical additives used.

Property Yeast extract Anhydrous Calcium Urea Ammonium Sodium

chloride chloride hydroxide
Purity 60% 98% 99.5% 99.5% 98%
Physical state at 20 °C Solid Solid Solid Solid Solid
Odor Characteristic odor Odorless Odorless Odorless Odorless
pH – 5–8 7.5–9.5 4.5–5.5 13–14
Solubility (% weight) 20% in water Completely soluble Completely soluble Completely soluble 111 g/100 g water
Molecular weight ‫ـــ‬ 147.02 60.06 53.49 40.0
Molecular formula ‫ـــ‬ CaCl22H2O NH2CONH2 NH4Cl NaOH
Color Light brown powder White powder White crystalline White crystalline White pellets
Density (gm/cm3) ‫ـــ‬ 1.85 1.35 1.53 2.13
864 A.M. Sharaky et al. / Construction and Building Materials 190 (2018) 861–869

harmony with those obtained by [48], they found that a little or no

breakdown was observed for the treated soils immersed in water.
So, useureolytic bacteria improve the structure of treated soil.

4.2. Unconfined compressive strength

Results of unconfined compressive strength of the samples of

Fig. 3. Photography showing liquid growth medium by shaker (a) and by air bump
(b).
lands). During the course of the experiments the optical density
was used as an indication of biomass concentration. The optical
density was measured using a spectrophotometer at a wavelength
of 600 nm (UV–VIS Spectrophotometer, T60U, United Kingdom).
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Stability in water
Results of the stability in water for biocemented samples are
shown visually in Fig. 5. As shown from the Figure that all samples
are stabile after treatment with no evidence to water collapsibility.
It was indicated that all biocementation method used in this inves-
tigation was enhanced stiffen of the treated soil. These results are
different biocementation methods are shown in Fig. 6. It was
observed that the maximum compressive strength (17.73 kg/cm2)
is achieved by using the injection with fixation solution treated
method, while it is about 5.1 kg/cm2 (point load) when soil was
treated by the injection without fixation solution method. The low-
est compressive strength values of 1.84 and 1.76 kg/cm2 were
obtained for the samples of mixing methods of MS and MUS,
respectively.
In case of using injection method, results of compressive
strength of sample IF are higher than those of sample IWF which
could be attributed to the effect of using the fixation solution. In
sample IF homogenous of cemented material is created through
using fixation solution of 0.05 M CaCl2 after bacterial suspension.
It worth to mention that using treated soil by injection with fixa-
tion solution methods are effective than the injection without fix-
ation solution methods at the same condition. In this concern [19],
found that the fixation solution can be desired in sand bodies
where bacterial cells attach too quickly and consequently accumu-
late close to the injection point. Solutions with high salinity, like
CaCl2 flush can be used to stabilize part of the bacterial cells and
enhance homogeneity of the bacterial distribution.
Fixation solution content is more important than the content of
cementation solution as reveled from the result of physicomechan-
ical test where the IF sample have 200 ml of fixation solution with
less bacteria: cementation ratio (1:10) but it has high strength and

Table 3
A summary of ingredient ratios of the used materials.

Samples code Stabilization method Soil volume (g) GM* (ml) EB** (ml) FS& (ml) CS# (ml) Bacterial: cementation ration
IF Injection with fixation 1000 ND! 200 200 2000 1:10
IWF Injection without fixation 40 ND 8 ‫ـــ‬ 200 1:25
MUS Mixing method with unsterilized media 1000 3000 No extract ‫ـــ‬ 3000 1:10
MS Mixing method with sterilize media 1000 3000 No extract ‫ـــ‬ 3000 1:10
*
Growth media.
**
Extracted bacteria.
&
Fixation solution.
#
Cementation solution.
!
Not determined.

Fig. 4. Photographs showing sequence of the mixing treatment method (a) mixing of cementation solution (upper) with growth media (lower), (b) the formed precipitation
after mixing, (c) adding of the obtained solution on the sand column.
 A.M. Sharaky et al. / Construction and Building Materials 190 (2018) 861–869 865

Fig. 5. Photographs showing biocemented sand samples which treated by different stabilization methods after immersion in tap water for 24 h.

Fig. 6. Unconfined compressive strength for samples IF, MUS and MS.

Table 4
Physical and mechanical characteristics for biocemented soil samples.

Samples code Compressive strength kg/cm2 Point load kg/cm2 CaCO3 % Bulk density gm/cm3 Slake durability index (%)
IF 17.73 ND 15.17 1.83 47
IWF ND 5.1 7.6 1.80 ND
MUS 1.76 ND 20.20 1.77 25
MS 1.84 ND 22.32 1.78 27

ND: not detected.

physicomechanical values (Table 4) than IWF sample that has no
fixation solution and has a bacterial: cementation ratio (1:25).
Lower compressive strength values are noticed in samples MUS
and MS (1.76 and 1.84 kg/cm2, respectively), It may be attributed
to the method used; mixing method. In the mixing method the
added of the solution in one batch leads to high precipitation of
calcite on the top of the sand column only as detected by naked
eye making thick layer which leads to reduced permeability
(Fig. 7). So, stirring of the sample to allow flow of the solution into
the sand column was necessary, this leads to breakdown of calcium
carbonates crystals which reduced the compressive strength val-
ues of samples.
From comparing the Fig. 8a and b, it was observed that the
amount of precipitation of calcium carbonate obtained by the
non-sterilized media method (sample MUS) are equal to that
obtained from using sterilized media method (sample MS). Also
the compressive strength of both samples has the same value. It
means that using a media without sterilization has no negative
effect on the bacterial activity in the using mixing method.
4.3. Point load test
The point load test result was 5.1 Kg/cm2 for sample IWF as
given in Table 4. This test was applied only on sample IWF due
to its small size and irregularity. The means that tested samples
has a good result.
4.4. Slake durability index (SDI)
The results of SDI test for biocemented sample are shown in
Table 4. The SDI values were 47%, 27% and 25% in IF, MS and
MUS samples, respectively. This test was not applied to IWF sam-
866 A.M. Sharaky et al. / Construction and Building Materials 190 (2018) 861–869

Table 5
Cohesion (c) values and friction angle (u) parameters for natural soil and biocemented
samples.

Sample Friction Cohesion - Friction angle - Cohesion -

angle - U (Deg) C (kg/cm2) U (Deg) C (kg/cm2)
Dry Wet
Raw sand 36 0.00 36 0.01
IF 40 7.14 43 7.15
MUS 36 0.72 36 0.73
MS 36 0.83 37 0.84

raw soil to biocemented soil, which confirms that, the precipitation

of calcite as cementing material. Also, it was observed that as fric-
tion angle increase in both cases (dry and wet), the cohesion values
increase. The increase of friction angles and cohesion values of the
biocemented samples was reflected by the increase of shear
strength.

4.7. Cementing material ratio content

As shown in Table 4 of the CaCO3 (%) content, the carbonate

Fig. 7. Photography showing calcite precipitation only the surface with not
penetration inside the sample.
content in the untreated soil was 2.39% (Table 1). The carbonate
content of the untreated specimen could be contributed to the
presence of in situ calcite, dolomite as shown in XRD pattern
(Fig. 10). The carbonate values could be arranged in descending
order as follows: in sample MS (22.32%), sample MUS (20.20%).
Figs. 9a–c showed the correlation ship between calcite content
and compressive strength (a); slake durability index (b); and cohe-
sion values. The results suggested that calcite has strong linear cor-
relations with compressive strength, slake durability index and
cohesion values in samples IF and IWF. As the ratio of calcite
increases, the values of compressive strength, slake durability
index and cohesion increase. Although, the deposition of a large
amount of calcite occurred in the mixing methods (MUS and MS)
but the samples have inverse correlation ship with the studied
properties. As the ratio of calcite increases, the values of compres-

Compressive strength CaCO3

Compressive strength

20 25
Fig. 8. Photography showing calcium carbonate precipitation by sterilization (a)

Calcite values (%)

and non-sterilization medium (b). 15 20
(kg/cm2)

15
ple due to its small size. The highest SDI value was found for IF 10
sample, while the lowest SDI value was found for MUS sample. It 10
appears that all tested samples are enhanced. It could be conclud- 5 5
ing that the treated sample by injection with fixation solution 0 0
(sample of IF) is more durable than samples treated by mixing IF IWF MUS MS
method (samples of MUS and MS). These results indicate that the Samples
deposition of calcite by the bacteria leads to the cohesion of sand
grains, which increase the resistance of sand to degradation due Fig. 9a. Correlations between calcite content and unconfined compressive strength.
to frictions during the rolling.

Slake durability index CaCO3

Slake durability index (%)

4.5. Bulk density 50 25

Calcite values (%)

40 20
In terms of bulk density (Table 4) of biocemented samples the
results were 1.83, 1.80, 1.77 and 1.78 gm/cm3 in samples IF, IWF, 30 15

MUS and MS, respectively. The highest value was for sample IF. 20 10
This may be to the effect of calcite formation inside the sample.
10 5

0 0
4.6. Shear parameters (c, /) IF MUS MS
Samples
Table 5 shows results of friction angle and cohesion measuring.
The friction angles and cohesion values in samples increased from Fig. 9b. Correlations between calcite content and slake durability index.
 A.M. Sharaky et al. / Construction and Building Materials 190 (2018) 861–869 867

CaCO3 Cohesion - C
25 8

Cohesion (kg/cm2)
Calcite values (%)

20 6
15
4
10
5 2

0 0
Raw sand IF MUS MS

Samples

Fig. 9c. Correlations between calcite content and cohesion values.

sive strength, slake durability index and cohesion decrease. This

may be due to calcite is formed only on the samples surface and
not penetration within leading to weakness of the samples
structure.

4.8. X-ray diffraction (XRD)

Fig. 10 shows the XRD patterns of the raw sand soil used, bioce-
mented samples treated by injection without and with fixation of
samples IWF and IF. As shown from the XRD pattern that the main
found phases are quartz and calcite. The results showed that the
semi quantitative percentage of calcite increased. The highest per-
centage found in sample of IF and has a well-developed calcite
(6.2%) but the lowest percentage found in raw sand soil sample
(2.5%). This may be attributed to the effect of fixation solution
which used in IF sample leading to high calcite formation. The rea-
son of the change in quartz peaks in intensity may be because the
different in quartz grain size due to the particles agglomeration.
Simply it is explained to the effect of sample treatment on particle Fig. 11. SEM micrographs of sample IF, c: calcite, s: sand grain, p: pores structure.
size and crystalline quartz content as confirmed by [49].
tation method used. In this concern [50] reported that the size and
4.9. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) form of the crystals differ between experiments and during the
course of the same experiment.
Figs. 11 and 12 show the SEM images of samples IF and IWF, The SEM photo for IF sample (Fig. 11) show that morphology of
respectively. It was observed that the morphology and distribution calcite phase appears as clusters of ill-crystallized phase (as gel) on
of the formed calcite phase are varied according to the biocemen- the surface of particle and between the particles as well and this is

Fig. 10. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of raw sandy soil, samples IWF and IF.
868 A.M. Sharaky et al. / Construction and Building Materials 190 (2018) 861–869
Fig. 12. SEM micrographs of sample IWF, c: calcite, s: sand grain, p: pores structure.
expected to reflect positively on the engineering properties. The
figure shows a well cemented structure where the pores between
sand grains are almost filled by the formed cementing material
(calcite). This material appears as clusters or rod –like shaped
forms. These forms are mostly found on the grain surface and in
the pores between the grains. As reveled from Fig. 11 that the
forms phases coted the sand grains and bind them together.
The SEM photo for IWF sample Fig. 12 shows cluster forms
between the grains and unfortunately this cluster of the formed
calcite did not filled the pores this may be attributed to lowest con-
tent of calcite formed as detected by the XRD patterns.
Harkes et al. [19] reported that the control of a homogeneous
distribution of bacterial activity in a sand bed is considered crucial
in order to prevent clogging during injection and provide homoge-
neous reinforcement results.
From the previous results it was revealed that the distribution
of calcite precipitates depends on the treatment method was
applied on the samples. Sample treated by injection without fixa-
tion were forming spherical crystals on the grain surface, while
samples treated by injection with fixation were forming jelly crys-
tals of calcite which as coating on the sand grains and bonds them
together.
5. Conclusions
This research studied the effect of different biocemented meth-
ods on sandy soil. A series of laboratory physiochemical and
mechanical experiments were conducted to quantify improve-
ments in strength and stiffness of siliceous sandy using different
testing methods. The results indicated that bacteria; S. pasteurii,
plays a significant role in increasing the compressive strength of
biocemented samples due to the precipitation of calcium carbon-
ate by the bacterial activity. Using the injection with fixation solu-
tion is effective than the injection without fixation solution at the
same conditions. The results also suggested that deposition of cal-
cite by bacteria activity led to the cohesion of sand grains, this
increased the resistance of sand to deterioration. Also, results of
the studied properties revealed that the biocemented are
improved. The superiority was for the sample of IF. Furthermore,
using the mixing method (MUS, MS) lead to high precipitation of
calcite on the top of the sand column creating a thick layer. This
prevents solution penetration inside the sample. So, it is suggested
to add the amount of solution gradually. The results also indicated
that using a growth media without centrifuge processes and bacte-
ria incubation at 12 h is preferable, where this technique has many
advantages such as saving of effort, time and tools and ease the
large area in the site for improvement. Also, use non sterilization
media has no negative effect on bacterial activity or amount of cal-
cite precipitated. Results of microstructure and mineralogical anal-
ysis using XRD and SEM confirmed that calcite is present and
increased in quantity and connect the grains. Finally the used S.
pasteurii can be used successfully commercially for the sand bioce-
mentation process.
Conflict of interest
There is no conflict.
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