PMID- 35421143
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20220418
LR  - 20220617
IS  - 1932-6203 (Electronic)
IS  - 1932-6203 (Linking)
VI  - 17
IP  - 4
DP  - 2022
TI  - Microbial induced calcite precipitation can consolidate martian and lunar 
      regolith simulants.
PG  - e0266415
LID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0266415 [doi]
LID - e0266415
AB  - We demonstrate that Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP) can be 
      utilized for creation of consolidates of Martian Simulant Soil (MSS) and Lunar 
      Simulant Soil (LSS) in the form of a 'brick'. A urease producer bacterium, 
      Sporosarcina pasteurii, was used to induce the MICP process for the both simulant 
      soils. An admixture of guar gum as an organic polymer and NiCl2, as bio- catalyst 
      to enhance urease activity, was introduced to increase the compressive strength 
      of the biologically grown bricks. A casting method was utilized for a slurry 
      consisting of the appropriate simulant soil and microbe; the slurry over a few 
      days consolidated in the form of a 'brick' of the desired shape. In case of MSS, 
      maximum strength of 3.3 MPa was obtained with 10mM NiCl2 and 1% guar gum 
      supplementation whereas in case of LSS maximum strength of 5.65 Mpa was obtained 
      with 1% guar gum supplementation and 10mM NiCl2. MICP mediated consolidation of 
      the simulant soil was confirmed with field emission scanning electron microscopy 
      (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetry (TG). Our work demonstrates 
      a biological approach with an explicit casting method towards manufacturing of 
      consolidated structures using extra-terrestrial regolith simulant; this is a 
      promising route for in situ development of structural elements on the 
      extra-terrestrial habitats.
FAU - Dikshit, Rashmi
AU  - Dikshit R
AD  - Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 
      India.
FAU - Gupta, Nitin
AU  - Gupta N
AD  - Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 
      India.
FAU - Dey, Arjun
AU  - Dey A
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-3727-3056
AD  - Thermal Systems Group, U. R. Rao Satellite Centre (Formerly ISRO Satellite 
      Centre), Bangalore, India.
FAU - Viswanathan, Koushik
AU  - Viswanathan K
AD  - Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 
      India.
FAU - Kumar, Aloke
AU  - Kumar A
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-7797-8336
AD  - Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 
      India.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20220414
PL  - United States
TA  - PLoS One
JT  - PloS one
JID - 101285081
RN  - 0 (Soil)
RN  - EC 3.5.1.5 (Urease)
RN  - H0G9379FGK (Calcium Carbonate)
SB  - IM
MH  - *Calcium Carbonate/chemistry
MH  - Chemical Precipitation
MH  - Extraterrestrial Environment
MH  - *Mars
MH  - Soil
MH  - Urease
PMC - PMC9009621
COIS- The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
EDAT- 2022/04/15 06:00
MHDA- 2022/04/19 06:00
PMCR- 2022/04/14
CRDT- 2022/04/14 17:13
PHST- 2021/09/21 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2022/03/20 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2022/04/14 17:13 [entrez]
PHST- 2022/04/15 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2022/04/19 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2022/04/14 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - PONE-D-21-30580 [pii]
AID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0266415 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - PLoS One. 2022 Apr 14;17(4):e0266415. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266415. 
      eCollection 2022.