Effects of bentonite and yeast extract as nutrient on decrease in hydraulic conductivity of porous media due to CaCO3 precipitation induced by Sporosarcina pasteurii

The reduction mechanism of hydraulic conductivity was investigated in porous media treated with bentonite and CaCO3 precipitates induced by growing cells of Sporosarcina pasteurii (ATCC 11859). Bentonite, the bacterial cells, and a precipitation solution, composing of 0.5 M CaCl2 and 0.5 M urea with or without 2% weight/volume yeast extract allowing the bacterial growth were sequentially introduced into the continuous-flow columns containing glass beads between 0.05 and 3 mm in diameter. The treatments reduced the hydraulic conductivity of the columns from between 8.4 × 10−1 and 4.1 × 10−3 cm/s to between 9.9 × 10−4 and 2.1 × 10−6 cm/s as the lowest. With yeast extract, the conductivity continuously decreased during four days of the experiment, while became stable after two days without yeast extract. Introduction of the bacterial cells did not decrease the conductivity. The reduction in hydraulic conductivity was inversely correlated with the volume occupied by the depositions of bentonite and CaCO3 precipitates in column, showing the same efficiency but a larger effect of the CaCO3 precipitates with increasing volume by bacterial growth. The smaller glass beads resulted in larger volume of the depositions. Bentonite increased the deposition of CaCO3 precipitates. Analysis using the Kozeny–Carman equation suggested that without yeast extract, bentonite and the CaCO3 precipitates formed aggregates with glass beads, thus increasing their diameter and consequently decreasing the pore size in the column. With yeast extract, in addition to the aggregates, the individual CaCO3 precipitates formed separately from the aggregates reduced the hydraulic conductivity.