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14 MARCH 2017 MATERIALS PERFORMANCE NACE INTERNATIONAL: VOL. 56, NO. 3 One of the InnoTech Alberta flow loops will be used to simulate MIC testing under simulated field environment conditions. Photo courtesy of Tesfaalem Haile. Research Project Focuses on Microbial-Induced Pipeline Corrosion T o tack le the issue of pipeline corrosion caused by microbial activity and improve the understanding of microbiologi- cally inf luenced corrosion (MIC), its detection, and its control, a collaborative four-year research project led by researchers with four Canadian universi- ties—with support from Canadian gov- ernment research laboratories, Canadian and U.S. oil and gas facility operators, industry suppliers, and several U.S. and European universities—will study micro- organisms found in both onshore and off- shore oil and gas pipeline environments. Using the latest in genomics techniques, the interdisciplinary team will look for trends related to specif ic microbes and chemistries that lead to MIC. Ultimately, the project will lead to better predictions of whether microbial corrosion will occur in a given oil and gas operation. The proj- ect, "Managing Microbial Corrosion in Canadian Offshore and Onshore Oil Pro- duction," received $7.9 million in funding through the Genome Canada 2015 Large- Scale Applied Research Project Competition. According to the researchers, MIC is reported to be respon- sible for at least 20% of the cost of steel infra- structure corrosion in the oil and gas industry, which is estimated to range between $3 bil- lion to $7 billion annu- ally in maintenance, repairs, and replace- ment. They note, how- ever, that failures are often attributed to MIC when non-biological corrosion phenomena cannot explain a fail- ure. The goals of the research project are to identif y the microbes, chemical reactions, and MIC mechanisms that lead to facility failures; develop enhanced methods and tools for detecting and measur- ing MIC; devise better predictive model- ing and risk assessment tools to help improve materials design and operating and maintenance practices; and improve MIC management and control strategies to reduce potential failures. Microorganisms can cause corrosion directly; or the corrosion stems from some sort of metabolic activity or process that produces a by product that leads to corrosion, explains project lead and NACE International member Lisa Gieg, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Calgary (Calgary, A lberta, Canada). She notes that several MIC mechanisms have been identif ied and mentions sulfate- reducing bacteria (SRB) as a well-known example. The metabolism of these micro- organisms reduces sulfate into hydrogen sulf ide (H 2 S), a corrosive product for car- bon steel. Additionally, the sulf ide result- ing from SRB activity reacts with soluble iron released by corrosion to form iron sulf ide (FeS), which is an insoluble, highly corrosive product. A lthough scientists have learned much about MIC through decades of research, it is still a poorly understood and complicated corrosion mechanism under most operating conditions in the oil and gas industry for several reasons, says NACE member John Wolodko, proj- ect lead, associate professor, and A lberta Innovates Strategic Chair in Bio and Industrial Materials at the University of A lberta (Edmonton, A lberta, Canada). For one thing, he explains, MIC mainly has been monitored using grow th-based approaches (cultures) that can only target a small fraction of select microbial groups. "We still don't know all the micro- bial players that may or may not cause MIC," he says. Another reason for a lack of knowledge is that corrosion processes MATERIAL MATTERS