The effect of corrosion inhibitors on microbial communities associated with corrosion in a model flow cell system

Abstract

A model flow cell system was designed to investigate pitting corrosion in pipelines associated with microbial communities. A microbial inoculum producing copious amounts of H₂S was enriched from an oil pipeline biofilm sample. Reservoirs containing a nutrient solution and the microbial inoculum were pumped continuously through six flow cells containing mild steel corrosion coupons. Two cells received corrosion inhibitor "A", two received corrosion inhibitor "B", and two ("untreated") received no additional chemicals. Coupons were removed after 1 month and analyzed for corrosion profiles and biofilm microbial communities. Coupons from replicate cells showed a high degree of similarity in pitting parameters and in microbial community profiles, as determined by 16S rRNA gene sequence libraries but differed with treatment regimen, suggesting that the corrosion inhibitors differentially affected microbial species. Viable microbial biomass values were more than 10-fold higher for coupons from flow cells treated with corrosion inhibitors than for coupons from untreated flow cells. The total number of pits >10 mils diameter and maximum pitting rate were significantly correlated with each other and the total number of pits with the estimated abundance of sequences classified as Desulfomicrobium. The maximum pitting rate was significantly correlated with the sum of the estimated abundance of Desulfomicrobium plus Clostridiales, and with the sum of the estimated abundance of Desulfomicrobium plus Betaproteobacteria. The lack of significant correlation with the estimated abundance of Deltaproteobacteria suggests not all Deltaproteobacteria species contribute equally to microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) and that it is not sufficient to target one bacterial group when monitoring for MIC.

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

“…Flow-cell experiments for MIC have been reported numerous times previously for SRB (Stipaničev et al, 2013;Duncan et al, 2014;Pinnock et al, 2018). Most SRB flow cell experiments showed significant pitting corrosion or uneven corrosion rate distribution (Pinnock et al, 2018).…”

Genomic insights into temperature-dependent transcriptional responses of Kosmotoga olearia, a deep-biosphere bacterium that can grow from 20 to 79 °C

“…Indeed, the environmental conditions of the subsurface environments and marine hydrothermal vents from which Kosmotoga spp. have been detected and/or isolated vary substantially (DiPippo et al 2009 ; Nunoura et al 2010 ; L’Haridon et al 2014 ; Vigneron et al 2017 ; Duncan et al 2009 , 2014 ; Gittel et al 2009 ; Kotlar et al 2011 ; Pollo et al 2016 ; Oko et al 2017 ; Bordenave et al 2013 ; Nesbø et al 2010 ). Moreover, Kosmotoga sp.…”

“…Cultivation experiments, 16S rRNA surveys, and metagenomic analyses have confirmed that the principal natural habitat of K. olearia is deep subsurface sediments and that these bacteria are particularly abundant in high-temperature petroleum reservoirs (e.g., Vigneron et al 2017 ; Duncan et al 2009 ; Gittel et al 2009 ; Pollo et al 2016 ; Nesbø et al 2010 ; Kotlar et al 2011 ). However, K. olearia has also been either isolated or detected via 16S rRNA sequencing in oil fields (Nesbø et al 2010 ), in an underground salt cavern plant used to store oily sand (Bordenave et al 2013 ), and in engineered systems (Duncan et al 2014 ; Oko et al 2017 ) with in situ temperatures of 20–50 °C, indicating that this bacterium occupies an ecological niche defined by a broad temperature range.…”

Oil field microorganisms cause highly localized corrosion on chemically inhibited carbon steel

“…Duncan et al . (2014) studied corrosion in sulfidogenic oil field cultures in once‐flow‐through bioreactors and first documented an observed impact of CI on pitting of carbon steel. We hypothesized that CIs can inhibit MIC and offer two mechanistic explanations for our observations.…”