Abstract—Industrial waste is now a global concern, causing environmental and economic harm. Industries are rapidly trying to find a solution, searching for optimal ways to manage waste and to change the most common practices, as landfill or incineration. Industrial waste is a very heavy burden for the environment, where a significant proportion of this industrial waste is attributable to construction and demolition waste. To mitigate these threats, a novel biomimetic technology for enzyme-based microbial carbonate precipitation was tested, converting industrial wastes into an ecological product. Within the European Ecocement project (FP7-Grant 282922), a novel eco-cement product was obtained by recovering valuable resources from different industries such as the dairy industry, cement industry and poultry growing industry. The eco-cement product involves the microbial carbonate precipitation process, via urea hydrolysis, in the presence of Sporosarcina pasteurii, a common soil ureolytic bacterium. This paper presented the general concept of the project and the main obtained results. Index Terms—Cement kiln dust, eco-cement, ecological product, Sporosarcina pasteurii, urease, waste recycling. I. INTRODUCTION Cement is the essential “glue” in concrete, a fundamental building material for society’s infrastructure around the world. Concrete is second only to water in total volumes consumed annually by society [1], [2]. But producing cement also produces CO 2 , leading the cement industry to produce approximately 5% of current global man-made CO 2 emissions. With climate change mitigation and adaptation measures increasing, concrete demand is expected to increase even further. Particularly, in developing countries, cement production is forecast to grow as modernization and growth continues. Currently the production of one ton of cement commonly results in the release of 0.65 to 0.95 tons of CO 2 depending on Manuscript received November 5, 2014; revised January 4, 2015. This work was made under the frame of the ECOCEMENT project (FP7- Grant 282922). O. A. Cuzman is with Institute for the Conservation and Valorization of Cultural Heritage (ICVBC-CNR), Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy (e-mail: cuzman@icvbc.cnr.it). L. Wittig is with Fraunhofer-Institut für Fertigungstechnik und Angewandte Materialforschung IFAM, Wiener Straße 12|28359 Bremen, Germany (e-mail: linda.wittig@ifam.fraunhofer.de). C. Herrera is with Delap and Waller EcoCo, Ireland (e-mail: cherrera715@gmail.com). F. J. Royo Abancéns is with Solintel, Avda. De la INdustria 32, EP-2, 28108 Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain (e-mail: Javier.royo@solintel.eu). N. R. Anastasi is with Neapolis University Pafos, Cyprus (e-mail: nra4c@spidernet.com.cy). L. Sánchez Alonso is with Grupo Essentium, Avenida de Quitapesares, 11 Polígono Empresarial Villapark, 28670 Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid, Spain (e-mail: lsanchez@essentium.com). the efficiency of the process, fuels used, and specific type of cement product. Considering the scale of the worldwide cement production, even a slight decrease in the average global emissions per ton has a large CO 2 reduction potential. Every 10% decrease in the cement CO 2 intensity by 2050 could save around 0.4 Gt CO 2 , and substantially contribute to slowing down climate change [1], [2]. Further abatement could originate from the more efficient use of cement and concrete. Additionally, innovative low CO 2 cementitious materials are to be considered as a reduction measure. The use of waste materials in the cement industry, also referred to as co-processing, contributes towards achieving these objectives. An attempt to use treatments more in line with the nature of these materials has, in the past few decades, directed attention to biomaterials, generally carbonates, produced by living organisms, particularly bacteria. Microbial carbonate precipitation has gained interest in the past 20 years particularly with regard to the potential role marine systems may play as ”carbon sinks” for the increasing global production of CO 2 [3]. The feasibility of microbial calcite precipitation is well established in literature, as a great number of researchers work on these type of processes, from one standpoint or another, [4]-[15]. The medium ingredients in biotechnology processes are a major cost factor, ranging between 10 to 60% of the total operating costs. The medium cost increases proportionally with the size of the scale up. Because of this, it is important to give consideration to optimization of the medium prior to scale up. Given that biocementation process does not require ease of removal of medium components or use of a defined medium, we are able to look at a range of more economical components to replace the existing expensive analytical grade chemicals. Reusing industrial by-products as a source of calcium, urea and nutrients for producing eco-cement is discussed in this paper. This alternative waste recycling has dual benefits as it contributes, not only to reduce the process costs, but to minimize environmental impacts associated to the disposal of such wastes. II. BIOMINERALIZATION CONCEPT AND WASTE RECYCLING A. Biomineralization Concept The mechanism of microbial induced calcium carbonate precipitation process (MICCP) involves the ureolytic bacteria that hydrolyze urea to produce bicarbonate ions (1-3), and in the presence of free calcium ions (4), the calcium carbonate will precipitate [8], [11], [13]-[17]. Bacterial “Masons” at Work with Wastes for Producing Eco-cement O. A. Cuzman, L. Wittig, F. J. Royo Abancéns, C. Herrera, N. R. Anastasi, and L. Sánchez Alonso International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, Vol. 6, No. 10, October 2015 767 DOI: 10.7763/IJESD.2015.V6.696