Investigating the effect of biogrout component values on the stabilization of mine dump against wind

Significant amounts of minerals accumulated in depots are scattered by wind and will cause environmental pollution. The potential of microbial induced calcium carbonate (Biogrouting) is investigated in stabilization of mineral accumulations against wind. In this method, the components of the unstable geomaterials (minerals or crushed and accumulated tailings) are bonded together using calcium carbonate deposition created by the action of the Sporosarcina pasture bacteria, and will be stable against wind. In this study, laboratory scale accumulations of Leach waste from Angouran lead and zinc mineral processing plant were tested under different amounts of grout base materials (different volumes of bacterial solution, calcium chloride and urea) and different wind speeds. In order to design laboratory models, the response surface method with 5 levels of variation was used and led to 31 laboratory tests. In the following of the research, the optimal consumption values of the grout components were calculated and presented. The results of tests showed that 22% of the accumulated soil are scattered with a wind speed of 10 meters per second. This depot can be stabilized using biogrout and scattered materials can be reduced till 0.54% in one stage improvement process (under bacterial solution, calcium chloride and urea about 0.56 ml/cm2).