title: Extracellular Electron Transfer Is a Bottleneck in the Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion of C1018 Carbon Steel by the Biofilm of Sulfate-Reducing Bacterium Desulfovibrio vulgaris.
abstract: Carbon steels are widely used in the oil and gas industry from downhole tubing to transport trunk lines. Microbes form biofilms, some of which cause the so-called microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) of carbon steels. MIC by sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) is often a leading cause in MIC failures. Electrogenic SRB sessile cells harvest extracellular electrons from elemental iron oxidation for energy production in their metabolism. A previous study suggested that electron mediators riboflavin and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) both accelerated the MIC of 304 stainless steel by the Desulfovibrio vulgaris biofilm that is a corrosive SRB biofilm. Compared with stainless steels, carbon steels are usually far more prone to SRB attacks because SRB biofilms form much denser biofilms on carbon steel surfaces with a sessile cell density that is two orders of magnitude higher. In this work, C1018 carbon steel coupons were used in tests of MIC by D. vulgaris with and without an electron mediator. Experimental weight loss and pit depth data conclusively confirmed that both riboflavin and FAD were able to accelerate D. vulgaris attack against the carbon steel considerably. It has important implications in MIC failure analysis and MIC mitigation in the oil and gas industry.
authors: School of Materials and Metallurgy, Northeast University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
authors: Huabing
authors: H
authors: Li
authors: Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
authors: Dake
authors: D
authors: Xu
authors: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Institute for Corrosion and Multiphase Technology, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, United States of America.
authors: Yingchao
authors: Y
authors: Li
authors: School of Materials and Metallurgy, Northeast University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
authors: Hao
authors: H
authors: Feng
authors: Corrosion and Protection Center, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, P. R. China.
authors: Zhiyong
authors: Z
authors: Liu
authors: Corrosion and Protection Center, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, P. R. China.
authors: Xiaogang
authors: X
authors: Li
authors: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Institute for Corrosion and Multiphase Technology, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, United States of America.
authors: Tingyue
authors: T
authors: Gu
authors: Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
authors: Ke
authors: K
authors: Yang
mesh_terms: D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D003343:Corrosion; D016969:Desulfovibrio vulgaris / Q000502:physiology*; D004579:Electron Transport; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010933:Plankton / Q000382:microbiology*; D013193:Stainless Steel / Q000737:chemistry*; D013431:Sulfates / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D013431:Sulfates; D013193:Stainless Steel