Iron to Gas: Versatile Multiport Flow-Column Revealed Extremely High Corrosion Potential by Methanogen-Induced Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (Mi-MIC)

Abstract

Currently, sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) is regarded as the main culprit of microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC), mainly due to the low reported corrosion rates of other microorganisms. For example, the highest reported corrosion rate for methanogens is 0.065 mm/yr. However, by investigating methanogen-induced microbiologically influenced corrosion (Mi-MIC) using an in-house developed versatile multiport flow test column, extremely high corrosion rates were observed. We analyzed a large set of carbon steel beads, which were sectionally embedded into the test columns as substrates for iron-utilizing methanogen Methanobacterium IM1. After 14 days of operation using glass beads as fillers for section separation, the highest average corrosion rate of Methanobacterium IM1 was 0.2 mm/yr, which doubled that of Desulfovibrio ferrophilus IS5 and Desulfovibrio alaskensis 16109 investigated at the same conditions. At the most corroded region, nearly 80% of the beads lost 1% of their initial weight (fast-corrosion), resulting in an average corrosion rate of 0.2 mm/yr for Methanobacterium IM1-treated columns. When sand was used as filler material to mimic sediment conditions, average corrosion rates for Methanobacterium IM1 increased to 0.3 mm/yr (maximum 0.52 mm/yr) with over 83% of the beads having corrosion rates above 0.3 mm/yr. Scanning electron images of metal coupons extracted from the column showed methanogenic cells were clustered close to the metal surface. Methanobacterium IM1 is a hydrogenotrophic methanogen with higher affinity to metal than H 2 . Unlike SRB, Methanobacterium IM1 is not restricted to the availability of sulfate concentration in the environment. Thus, the use of the multiport flow column provided a new insight on the corrosion potential of methanogens, particularly in dynamic conditions, that offers new opportunities for monitoring and development of mitigation strategies. Overall, this study shows (1) under certain conditions methanogenic archaea can cause higher corrosion than SRB, (2) specific quantifications, i.e., maximum, average, and minimum corrosion rates can be determined, and (3) that spatial statistical evaluations of MIC can be carried out.

Severe Corrosion of Carbon Steel in Oil Field Produced Water Can Be Linked to Methanogenic Archaea Containing a Special Type of [NiFe] Hydrogenase

“…The low to moderate corrosion rates in the absence of micH -positive Methanococcus spp. agree with corrosion rates documented for sulfidogenic cultures of D. alaskensis (≤0.1 mm Fe 0 · yr −1 ; [ 22 , 49 , 50 ]). We cannot, however, exclude the possibility that hitherto unknown enzymatic mechanisms may have affected corrosion in our experiments.…”

“…Electrochemical studies suggested a mediator-free direct electron uptake mechanism for one of these Fe 0 -utilizing isolates, Methanobacterium -like strain IM1 ( 21 ). The potential technical relevance of this microorganism has been demonstrated in laboratory studies in which strain IM1 was grown in flow-through systems ( 22 ).…”

Iron corrosion by methanogenic archaea characterized by stable isotope effects and crust mineralogy

“…The crust formed by strain IM1 has a domed appearance, similar to MIC crusts formed by sulfate reducers (Venzlaff et al, 2013) rather than to crusts reported for other methanogens (Uchiyama et al, 2010). Under continuous flow systems, strain IM1 formed crusts with less prominent, rather flattened domes (An et al, 2020). Correlation of the EDX-resolved elemental composition with Raman spectra indicated that the crust was composed mainly of calcite and siderite, both commonly formed by corrosive methanogens (Uchiyama et al, 2010;Little et al, 2020).…”

Novel Methanobacterium Strain Induces Severe Corrosion by Retrieving Electrons from Fe0 under a Freshwater Environment

“…IM1 under static conditions (0.15 mm/yr) and was as high as the average corrosion rate of Methanobacterium sp. IM1, which was obtained in the flow system of a versatile multiport column filled with carbon steel beads [25]. The accumulation of non-conductive corrosion products, such as siderite formed by methanogenic corrosion, restricts the access of cells or enzymes to the iron surface and results in a lower corrosion rate.…”