Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion in the Upstream Oil and Gas Industry

Pipelines play an extremely important role in the transportation of gases and liquids over long distance throughout the world. Internal corrosion due to microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) is one of the major integrity problems in oil and gas industry and is responsible for most of the internal corrosion in transportation pipelines. The presence of microorganisms such as sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) in pipeline system has raised deep concern within the oil and gas industry. Biocide treatment and cathodic protection are commonly used to control MIC. However, the solution is too expensive and may create environmental problems by being too corrosive. Recently, Ultraviolet (UV) as one of the benign techniques to enhance mitigation of MIC risk in pipeline system has gained interest among researchers. An amount of 100 ml of modified Baar’s medium and 5 ml of Desulfovibrio vulgaris (strain 7577) seeds was grown in 125 ml anaerobic vials with carbon steel grade API 5L-X70 coupons at the optimum temperature of 37°C and pH 9.5 for fifteen days. This was then followed by exposing the medium to UV for one hour. Results from present study showed that UV radiation has the ability to disinfect bacteria, hence minimizing the risk of metal loss due to corrosion in steel pipeline.

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Proteomic study of Desulfovibrio ferrophilus IS5 reveals overexpressed extracellular multi-heme cytochrome associated with severe microbiologically influenced corrosion

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-95060-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Mohor Chatterjee ◽

Yu Fan ◽

Fang Cao ◽

Aaron A. Jones ◽

Giovanni Pilloni ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carbon Steel ◽

Oil And Gas ◽

Oil And Gas Industry ◽

Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion ◽

Extracellular Electron Transfer ◽

Microbiological Corrosion ◽

Microbial Corrosion ◽

Gas Industry ◽

Reliable Detection ◽

Proteomic Study

AbstractMicrobiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) is recognized as a considerable threat to carbon steel asset integrity in the oil and gas industry. There is an immediate need for reliable and broadly applicable methods for detection and monitoring of MIC. Proteins associated with microbial metabolisms involved in MIC could serve as useful biomarkers for MIC diagnosis and monitoring. A proteomic study was conducted using a lithotrophically-grown bacterium Desulfovibrio ferrophilus strain IS5, which is known to cause severe MIC in seawater environments. Unique proteins, which are differentially and uniquely expressed during severe microbial corrosion by strain IS5, were identified. This includes the detection of a multi-heme cytochrome protein possibly involved in extracellular electron transfer in the presence of the carbon steel. Thus, we conclude that this newly identified protein associated closely with severe MIC could be used to generate easy-to-implement immunoassays for reliable detection of microbiological corrosion in the field.

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