Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (MIC) is becoming increasingly important, especially to the oil and gas industry as more and more reservoirs are soured due to increased practice of water flooding and pipelines are aging (some even beyond their anticipated life expectancies). Despite the fact that MIC research has been going on for several decades, there is much confusion in the MIC literature regarding the fundamental mechanisms in MIC. This has greatly hindered the development of reliable prediction and new mitigation methods. A new MIC theory entitled Biocatalytic Cathodic Sulfate Reduction (BCSR) theory was presented in NACE/2009. It sheds some lights on MIC mechanisms. This work demonstrates how the theory together with bioenergetics, electrochemical kinetics, and mass transfer can be used to explain various mysteries in MIC. Some experimental data and model simulation results for MIC due to sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) and acid producing bacteria (APB) are used in the explanations.

Subject
Acids, Pits, Steel surfaces, Electrochemical cells, Organic carbon, Sulfates, Iron, Acidity, Biofilms, Organic acids, Pitting, Risk reduction, Microbiologically influenced corrosion
Keywords:
MIC, Model, Mechanism, SRB, APB, Sulfate reduction, Proton reduction, Acid reduction
© 2010 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).
2010
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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