Bacterial Biofilms in Relation to Internal Corrosion Monitoring and Biocide Strategies

Abstract

This paper is a review of leading research in the field of bacterial corrosion monitoring with specific emphasis on systems that transport liquids rather than gases. However, the principles of bacterial corrosion presented below are universal and independent of whatever media is transported through the pipeline. It has now been established that the primary mechanism of bacterial corrosion of metal surfaces involves the creation, within an adherent biofilm, of local physiochemical ''corrosion cells''. The practical consequence of this perception is that we now know that bacteria must be in sustained contact with a metal surface, in well-organized microbial communities before the corrosion process is initiated. Decades of research in Aquatic Microbiology have shown that numbers and types of planktonic (floating) bacteria bear little relationship to the numbers and types of sessile (adherent) bacteria in biofilms in the same system, and that planktonic bacteria are much more susceptible to antibacterial agents than are their sessile counterparts.