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Updated: Jan 31, 2026

Microbiologically Induced Calcite Precipitation Mediated by Sporosarcina pasteurii
Published on: April 16, 2016
Immobilization of cadmium by hydroxyapatite converted from microbial precipitated calcite
Maolin Wang1, Shijun Wu2, Jianan Guo1
1CAS Key Laboratory of Mineralogy and Metallogeny, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 511 Kehua Street, 510640 Guangzhou, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mineral Physics and Materials, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 511 Kehua Street, 510640 Guangzhou, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19 Yuquan Road, 100049 Beijing, China.
Abstract:
As one of the most toxic heavy elements, humans are mainly exposed to cadmium (Cd) via daily diets and smoking. Calcite can be used as an amendment directly or precipitated in situ based on microbial-induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) technology to immobilize Cd in soil with potential release of Cd due to calcite dissolution. Therefore, we converted microbial-induced calcite to less soluble hydroxyapatite and investigated the phase and morphology evolutions of the solids, as well as the immobilized efficiency, distribution and release of Cd. The results showed that the conversion of calcite to hydroxyapatite enhanced Cd removal efficiency up to 1.67% and 33.14% compared to the MICP process and adsorption by calcite, respectively. Accordingly, the released Cd decreased up to 94.10% and 99.96%, respectively. Our findings demonstrated that the conversion of calcite to hydroxyapatite might control the environmental behavior of heavy metals like Cd and can potentially be applied for soil remediation.
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