Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP) is a new technique of improving the engineering properties of soil, a multidisciplinary technique that involves biology, chemistry and soil mechanics. This technique involves the hydrolysis of urea by urease bacteria enzyme into carbonate ions and ammonium ions that precipitate in form of calcite in presence of calcium source. The calcite precipitate in the pore space of soil sample, where they can move and find oxygen for their activity, at particle-to-particle contact. However, the pore space of soil varied with the type of soil. The pore space in coarse-grained soil are greater than pore space in fine-grained-soil. Therefore, the application of MICP in fine-grained soil is limited. The limitation of MICP application in fine-grained soil was studied in this research with Taipei silty soil. MICP method was successively applied on Taipei silty using two method, namely mixing method and injection method. The unconfined compressive strength test and the electronic cone penetrometer test was used to indicate the improvement of soil shear strength for mixing method and injection method, respectively. An increase of two fold of the shear strength of Taipei silty clay from both method was achieved. Prior to the mixing method and the injection method, the ability of Sporosarcina pasteurii, used in this study, was investigated. High concentration of S. pasteurii inside growing medium promotes high urease activity.
Soil improvement by natural (coir) fiber was also studied in this research. It shows the strength of the soil increases with the addition of fiber up to 1%. However, MICP gives better result on soil improvement compare to natural fiber. A combination of the two method was attempted. However, MICP application give better response to soil improvement than the combination of fiber and MICP.

Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP) is a new technique of improving the engineering properties of soil, a multidisciplinary technique that involves biology, chemistry and soil mechanics. This technique involves the hydrolysis of urea by urease bacteria enzyme into carbonate ions and ammonium ions that precipitate in form of calcite in presence of calcium source. The calcite precipitate in the pore space of soil sample, where they can move and find oxygen for their activity, at particle-to-particle contact. However, the pore space of soil varied with the type of soil. The pore space in coarse-grained soil are greater than pore space in fine-grained-soil. Therefore, the application of MICP in fine-grained soil is limited. The limitation of MICP application in fine-grained soil was studied in this research with Taipei silty soil. MICP method was successively applied on Taipei silty using two method, namely mixing method and injection method. The unconfined compressive strength test and the electronic cone penetrometer test was used to indicate the improvement of soil shear strength for mixing method and injection method, respectively. An increase of two fold of the shear strength of Taipei silty clay from both method was achieved. Prior to the mixing method and the injection method, the ability of Sporosarcina pasteurii, used in this study, was investigated. High concentration of S. pasteurii inside growing medium promotes high urease activity.
Soil improvement by natural (coir) fiber was also studied in this research. It shows the strength of the soil increases with the addition of fiber up to 1%. However, MICP gives better result on soil improvement compare to natural fiber. A combination of the two method was attempted. However, MICP application give better response to soil improvement than the combination of fiber and MICP.

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