Bioprecipitação de carbonato de cálcio por bactérias ureolíticas e suas aplicações

Abstract

Biomineralization is a chemical change in environment through the microbial activity that results in the precipitation of minerals, being a phenomenon widely spread in nature. In microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP), ureases plays an important role in hydrolyzing urea by a large variety of microorganisms capable of producing high levels of this enzyme. There are different polymorphs of calcium carbonate crystal and the structure that is formed depends on the type of calcium used, the incubation time and metabolic activities of the evaluated microbrial species. MICP is a promising and environmentally friendly alternative to current and conventional remediation technologies capable of solving environmental problems in multidisciplinary fields. Several applications such as increased quality and improved properties of building materials, removal of potentially toxic metals and radionucleotides and sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide have been discussed.