Microbially Induced Calcium Carbonate Precipitation in Construction Materials

Biocementation or microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICCP) is a research domain explored by many researchers in the field of civil engineering. It has a significant potential to improve the mechanical properties of a wide range of construction materials. It can be an effective tool to increase the durability of structures. MICCP uses metabolic pathways of bacteria to form calcium carbonate, the crystals of which get deposited in the pores of the matrices of construction materials resulting in the improvement of matrix properties of construction materials. This article presents a review of the basics of biocementation by the ureolysis pathway. Major and minor influencing factors and techniques to practically apply biocementation to improve the properties of cement-based materials are presented and discussed in this article. Furthermore, advantages and limitations of biocementation from a practicability point of view are briefly discussed. An effort has been made to discuss most aspects of biocementation so that it can benefit the researchers to explore further possibilities of this technique for its field applications.