Improvement of Geomechanical Properties of Bio-remediated Aeolian Sand

Aeolian sand is widely distributed in the desert. It is susceptible to wind erosion because it consists of fine particles that lack cohesion between them. Wind erosion of Aeolian sand, dune migration, and dust storms in deserts affect the environment and infrastructure severely. Conventional chemical methods for lessening the effect of wind erosion are environmentally unfriendly. This paper examines Aeolian sand bio-remediated by microbially induced calcite precipitations (MICPs). The geomechanical properties of the Aeolian sand remediated by MICP were tested to explore its behavior as a desert bio-crust. The results indicated that a bio-crust of Aeolian sand with suitable strength required 7 days for formation. The remediated Aeolian sand had an average unconfined compression strength of 0.66 MPa and an average inner friction angle of 36° at a bacterial concentration in the OD600 range of 0.5–0.8. These findings indicate that formation of bio-crust could serve as protection against desert erosion. The particle characteristics and the porosity of Aeolian sand play an important role in the formation of the bio-crust. Crust from bio-remediated well-graded, high-porosity soil is stronger than crust from bio-remediated, poorly graded, low-porosity soil, given that both soils have the same bacteria concentration.