There are several chemical plants along the river Rhine that use river water as coolant in once through-systems. Microbially Influenced Corrosion (MIC) failures occur on stainless steel pipes and also in heat exchanger tubes coming in contact with this cooling water. This paper presents results of failure analysis of three case histories suspected to be caused by MIC. Afterwards several important corrosion engineering aspects are presented and discussed with respect to practical observations. Finally, a summary of the case histories and also some practical recommendations for MIC prevention in water handling units are given.

Subject
Water, Materials, Piping, Tubes, Rivers, Iron, Bacteria, Heat, Pitting, Deposit corrosion, Stainless steel, Corrosion potential, Microbiologically influenced corrosion
Keywords:
Microbially Influenced Corrosion, process water, pitting, heat tints, deposits, scaling, anion-selective precipitates, crevice corrosion, electrochemistry
© 1998 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
1998
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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