AbstractCorrosion results from the electrochemical reactions between the metal and its existing environment. Corrosion results in severe and expensive damage to a wide spectrum of industries. When microbes are involved in corrosion it is seldom possible to economically evaluate its impact. Microbially influenced corrosion is recognized to cause catastrophic failures contributing to approximately 20% of the annual losses. In many engineering applications, microbially influenced corrosion control is of prime importance. Expensive, toxicity and sometimes, even ineffectiveness of the current chemical strategies to mitigate microbially influenced corrosion have shifted the interest towards eco-friendly inhibitors. The present review discusses microbial induced corrosion in various metals and its inhibition through eco-friendly inhibitors. In addition, the study also reviews the morphological and electrochemical impedance results.
Metals are used in most marine infrastructures for energy extraction and production. Metal corrosion is a serious concern, due to the environmental, safety, and replacement costs associated with it. Microbially influenced corrosion (MIC) contributes to the overall corrosion process, through several chemical, electrochemical and biochemical mechanisms, particularly in the presence of microbial biofilms. In this short article, we discuss briefly recent advances in MIC research, comparing corrosion in single species and mixed species biofilms, and outline possible strategies for biofilm and corrosion control.
Two mechanisms of microbially influenced corrosion (MIC) are discussed and compared: corrosion modified by the presence of (1) sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and (2) manganese-oxidizing bacteria (MOB). It is demonstrated that the nature of MIC in both cases depends on the nature of inorganic materials precipitated at the metal surface, iron sulfides and manganese oxides. Those materials are electrochemically active and, therefore, modify the electrochemical processes naturally occurring at the metal-solution interface. Some of these modifications may lead to accelerated corrosion.
In this work, the iron bacteria were cultured and inoculated into the cooling water before immersion, and low carbon steel coupons were immersed for one month. Then, microbially influenced corrosion (MIC) of carbon steel in the presence of these bacteria was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD) and weight loss methods. SEM results showed that large amounts of corrosion products and heterogeneous biofilm layer were formed on the coupon surface. SEM also revealed the uniform-pitting corrosion on the steel surface due to bacteria colonization. XRD results show that the main constituents present in corrosion product are composed of iron oxides and iron hydroxides.
A Brief Insight into Microbial Corrosion and its Mitigation with Eco-friendly Inhibitors