Hybrid technique to produce bio-bricks using enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) and sodium alginate biopolymer

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2021.122846Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Hybrid Bio-cementation using biopolymer with Enzymatic Induced Carbonate Precipitation (EICP) for production of bricks.

  • Efficient strength improvement achieved using hybrid bio-cementation.

  • Bio-bricks were evaluated against relevant standards of construction materials.

  • Produced bio-bricks provides sustainable construction material.

Abstract

This study investigated the process of bio cementation using enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) and sodium alginate biopolymer to produce bio-bricks for the use in the construction industry. This approach has the potential to provide an alternative to cement and fired clay bricks, especially in countries where sand is abundant. The mechanical behavior of the produced bricks was evaluated based on their unconfined compressive strength and flexural strength. Three-point flexural test results were in the range 1–2.5 MPa, which was similar to the flexure strength of 20% cement-treated beams. The results show that the produced bio-bricks are comparable to cement-treated beams in terms of their mechanical properties and can also be considered an eco-friendly alternative to conventional bricks.

Section snippets

Introductions

Much work is required to transform the global construction industry into an environmentally healthy enterprise. Urbanization and the expansion of construction activities have increased the demand for natural resources and materials, especially across the developing world. Further, the manufacture of construction materials accounts for around 40% of global energy consumption, generating significant amounts of pollution and waste [1]. The production of the industrial bricks or blocks used to

Soil

Graded silica sand ASTM C778 [46] acquired from a natural silica sand and with a silica content of 99% (according to the manufacturer; Société Nouvelle du Littoral, France) was used throughout this study. The morphology of the sand particles was evaluated and analyzed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), which showed that the sand particles were uncrushed and rounded. The results of the SEM analysis are presented elsewhere [47]. The gradation curve for the sand used throughout the study

Unconfined compressive strength (UCS)

The UCS tests for the cylindrical specimens were performed in accordance with ASTM D 2166 [53]. The bio-brick specimens produced with dimensions of 180 × 90 × 60 mm were cut into three cubes with dimensions of 60 × 60 × 60 mm (Fig. 4). The cubes were tested using a compression machine with an axial strain rate of 0.50%/min until the specimen failed.

Three-point flexural tests

Flexure testing was conducted for the bio-brick beams with dimensions of 200 × 50 × 50 mm using three-point bending tests. The adjusted supports

UCS results

The UCS results for the cylindrical bio-treated and cement-treated specimens are shown in Fig. 7. The bio-treated specimens were treated using three EICP CSs with varying SA contents (0, 0.5, 1, or 1.5%), whereas the cement-treated specimens had varying cement contents (5, 10%, or 20%). All specimens were allowed to cure for 7 days. The specimens treated with EICP CS S1 exhibited the lowest UCS results. Increasing the SA content improved the UCS of the specimens treated with EICP CS S1.

The

Discussion and practical applications

Despite the discouraging, burdensome requirements for scaling bio-brick production found in previous studies, this work has demonstrated the possibility of effective bio-brick production and usage. The implementation of bio-inspired techniques to produce eco-friendly bricks faces several challenges including high material costs, impractical production techniques, and time-consuming processes. In this study, the combination of an SA biopolymer with EICP enabled the production of bio-bricks by

Conclusions

The feasibility of producing bio-bricks based on a hybrid combination of enzymatic-induced carbonate precipitation and SA biopolymer was demonstrated in this study. A combination of EICP CS (S2) and 1.5% SA was found to give the highest compressive and flexural strength for the tested bio-bricks. This hybrid technique improved the flexural strength of the bio-bricks. The produced bio-bricks showed flexural strength that was comparable to 20% cement-treated sand; thereby satisfying the

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Mohamed G. Arab: Supervision, Formal analysis, Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing - original draft. Maher Omar: Visualization, Writing - review & editing. Abduallah Almajed: Validation, Writing - review & editing. Yousef Elbaz: Data curation, Investigation. Amira H. Ahmed: Writing - original draft.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the Deanship of Scientific Research and RSSU at King Saud University (KSU) for their technical support. Any opinions or positions expressed in this article belong to the authors only and do not necessarily reflect any opinions or positions of the UoS and KSU.

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Sharjah (UoS), Sharjah, UAE [grant number 1802040198-P].

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      In particular, this paper discusses the historical development of the technique, the biogeochemical processes involved, the influencing factors, the behaviour of EICP-treated soils, the modelling of EICP-treated soils (including empirical relationships) together with various application areas of EICP. Over the last decade, EICP has been used in other applications such as the mitigation of fugitive dust [41], removal of heavy metals from contaminated mine waste [52], mitigation of liquefaction of sand [53], crack remediation in a pre-cracked mortar beams [54], surface water erosion control [55], stabilisation of desert sands in a large-scale field test [56] and the production of “bio-bricks” [57]. In recent years, research efforts and interest in EICP have grown significantly, as demonstrated by Fig. 2a, which shows an exponential growth in the yearly publication numbers on EICP starting from 2001 [58].

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