Traditional cement- and lime-based soil stabilization's environmental constraints have driven the search for sustainable alternatives in geotechnical engineering. Bio-mediated methods like Microbial-Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP) and Enzyme-Induced Calcite Precipitation (EICP) are gaining attention for their ability to improve soil properties through biologically induced calcium carbonate. This review covers recent advances (2020–2026) on mechanisms, performance, sustainability, and challenges of MICP and EICP for soil stabilization, based on about 120 peer-reviewed studies from major databases. EICP typically shows better penetration in fine soils due to no bacterial size limits, while MICP offers stronger bonding in granular soils from bacterial nucleation. Significant progress has been made in strength, permeability, erosion, and swelling, but issues like non-uniform treatment, ammonia release, brittleness, cost, and durability remain barriers. Tropical lateritic soils are understudied despite their importance in developing countries. Emerging techniques like non-ureolytic methods, fiber systems, nanomaterials, and waste reagents show promise for sustainability and field use. Future work should focus on field validation, durability testing, eco-friendly precipitation, and standard design to move bio-stabilization from research to real-world infrastructure.
Deborah et al. (Mon,) studied this question.