INTRODUCTION ABSTRACT: This paper discusses the development of a methodology for monitoring and assessing the risk of microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) in individual crude oil pipelines. In order to perform such a monitoring in a thorough and cost-efficient manner, laboratory kits and protocols for detection and enumeration of MIC-related microorganisms by Molecular Microbiology Methods (MMM) must be customized for the crude oil pipelines system. This research is set to (i) develop protocols for cell- and DNA extraction from crude oil samples, (ii) compare the microbial community structure in samples of crude and water from crude oil pipelines, and (iii) design MMM assays suitable for surveillance and troubleshooting related to MIC in crude oil pipelines. Together, these activities outline a roadmap for the implementation of MMM-based MIC surveillance in crude and water pipelines as well as other industrial installations. It is expected that the investment necessary for this implementation will be returned manifold through early-warning and a more focused and efficient mitigation of MIC.
Corrosion resulting from the attachment and activities of microorganisms on metal surfaces is referred to as microbiologically influenced corrosion or biocorrosion. It occurs in diverse environments both at aqueous submerged conditions and in humid atmospheres. Microbiologically mediated reactions do not result in a unique type of corrosion, but they can induce localized corrosion, change the rate of corrosion, and also inhibit corrosion.2
Development of Protocol for extraction of microbial cells from SA Crude Oil EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Microbial analysis of liquid samples, containing only low cell densities, is commonly performed by filtering a large sample volume through a 0.2 µm pore-size filter. The cells are thereby concentrated on the filter, which can subsequently be used for DNA extraction and quantitative or qualitative analysis. Unfortunately, samples of crude oil are usually impossible to filter due to the high viscosity.