Understanding the biochemistry of Microbiologically influenced corrosion diagnostic methods

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Corrosion of iron (and other metals)-based infrastructure (for example, pipes) is an enormously costly problem faced by many industries including power generation, oil production, transportation, beverage production and water storage and distribution. Estimates of the cost are on the order of ~3% of Canada's annual gross domestic product, GDP. Corrosion prevention is not trivial, and can be highly difficult to achieve. It is now known that microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) can in many cases cause and/or worsen metal corrosion - a phenomenon known as microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC), which complicates corrosion treatment and prevention. Biotechnology companies such as OSP Microcheck Inc produce products to help diagnose for MIC. Once diagnosed correctly, MIC type corrosion can be treated or further prevented more effectively than if left undiagnosed. Currently used MIC diagnostic methods recognise the presence of microbes, but are incapable of identifying exactly which microbes are present. As not all microbes will actually cause corrosion, it would be of great benefit to identify the microbes present, potentially even preventing un-needed and costly treatments when microbes are present, but the actual risk of MIC type corrosion is minimal. This academic-industry interaction will explore the possibility of innovating one of OSP Microcheck's current MIC diagnostic methods such that it is capable of both finding and identifying the microbes causing MIC type corrosion. This work will fill a knowledge gap in the understanding of the biochemistry behind MIC diagnostic techniques, information key to further technology developments towards a product that would both enhance MIC diagnoses and render them more cost-effective.