Carbon capture biocementation pathways for sustainable geotechnical engineering: a review

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Provides a comprehensive overview of biocementation pathways and identifies research gaps, particularly in CA kinetics and scale-up.

🏢実務担当者:Offers insights into a potential low-carbon alternative for soil stabilization, though practical implementation remains nascent.

🏛政策担当者:Highlights a promising technology for reducing construction emissions, suggesting potential for policy support and R&D funding.

Abstract Geotechnical engineering practice depends heavily on aggressive chemical binders—ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and lime—whose manufacture accounts for roughly 7–8% of global anthropogenic CO₂ emissions, while construction operations contribute about 15% of the world total. Biocementation, defined as the production of biomimetic carbonate cement through the metabolic activity of microorganisms or their enzymes, has emerged as a promising ambient-temperature alternative that can simultaneously stabilize soils and capture CO 2 . This review examines the principal carbon-capture biocementation pathways available to geotechnical engineers—ureolytic microbially-induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP), enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation (EICP), carbonic anhydrase (CA)-mediated biomineralization, denitrification-driven biocementation, methane oxidation and photosynthesis—and surveys their applications in sandy soil stabilization, soft clay improvement, liquefaction mitigation, slope and erosion control, foundation reinforcement, tunnelling and coastal/marine geotechnics. Special attention is paid to non-destructive shear-wave velocity (V s ) monitoring with bender elements, which has been pioneered by the present authors’ research group as a real-time, in-situ method for tracking biocementation progress and the development of the small-strain shear modulus (G 0 ). Reported geotechnical performance is encouraging: optimised MICP and EICP regimes raise Vₛ in sandy soil from ≈138 to 337 m/s, increasing G 0 by up to 211% (peak G 0 ≈ 81 MPa); CA-driven systems capture 75–97% of CO₂ in soil microcosms while concurrently densifying the matrix; bio-fiber composites combining biocement with hemp, sisal, jute or coir add ductility and dynamic-load resistance. Key barriers to large-scale deployment—ammonia by-products, scale-up of CA technology, calcium-source supply, treatment uniformity, life-cycle cost and the absence of validated CA-biocementation kinetic models—are critically discussed, and a research agenda for sustainable, carbon-capturing biocementation in geotechnical engineering is proposed.

• openalex https://doi.org/10.1007/s44274-026-00947-2first seen 2026-08-08 04:59:00