Bioassays, especially bacterial culture methods, are often used to determine whether a corrosion problem has a microbiological component. However, monitoring bacterial counts in bulk water samples can be very misleading. Industrial process waters can have characteristics that allow only unusual bacteria to thrive and standard culturing techniques may be unable to reproduce growth conditions in the laboratory. There are other detection and monitoring tools available that can be more useful when the main corrosion mode is due to bacterial activity. This paper will present examples of anaerobic and aerobic bacteria detection in various industries where bioassay data is missing or contradictory. Included are changes in leak rate, coupons, visual examination of damage, x-ray, and linear polarization probes.

Subject
Water, Piping, Corrosion rate, Steel coupons, Metal coupons, Leaks, Biofilms, Corrosion attacks, Bacteria, Corrosion coupons, Biocides, Deposit corrosion, Microbiologically influenced corrosion
Keywords:
aerobic, anaerobic, biocide, biofilm, coupons, microbiologically influenced corrosion, MIC, monitoring, planktonic, sessile
© 2004 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).
2004
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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