Abstract
Aeolian sand is a fine, non-cohesive and homogeneous material widely distributed in desert areas, and therefore susceptible to wind erosion, causing serious environmental concerns. This study demonstrates the promise of enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) as a means of solidifying aeolian sand to prevent wind erosion. Different cementation solution concentration, urease activity, temperature and number of treatments will have diverse influence on the mechanical property of solidified sand. The test-tube experiments were performed to evaluate the effect of these factors on the enzymatic calcium carbonate precipitation process. The method was then applied to solidify aeolian sand to assess the reinforcement effect by unconfined compressive strength (UCS), calcium carbonate content and mercury intrusion capillary pressure tests. The results demonstrated that the increase of urease activity from 2.95 U/mL to 5.39 U/mL and that of cementation solution from 0.25 M to 0.75 M resulted in an increase in UCS. The increase of number of treatments and that of temperature from 15°C to 45°C can also effectively enhance the mechanical property of aeolian sand. The mercury intrusion capillary pressure test revealed that the improvement of performance of solidified aeolian sand was mainly due to the reduction of porosity caused by the generated of calcium carbonate; and there is an exponential function relationship between the strength and porosity. Furthermore, the increase in urease activity and temperature significantly reduced the porosity and the proportion of larger pores in the solidified sand, thereby appreciably enhancing the strength of aeolian sand with a minor increase in calcium carbonate content.
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Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52173248), the Transportation Department of Ningxia (No. 202000173) and the Science and Technology Department of Ningxia (No. 2020BFG02014).
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Wu, L., Miao, L., Kawasaki, S. et al. Effects of Reaction Conditions on EICP-Treated Desert Aeolian Sand. KSCE J Civ Eng 26, 2662–2674 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-022-1585-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-022-1585-0