Microbiological study for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria influenced corrosion originated from an Egyptian petroleum company: community and corrosive activity

Abstract This research focused on investigating a case of an Egyptian petroleum company, where their fields faced Microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) problems, even though they had been using corrosion inhibitors and biocides. Therefore, five samples were collected and used to study their microbial community using 16S metagenomics sequencing. The result displayed many potential corrosive bacteria that represented in families, genera and species. The samples were studied concerning total bacterial counts, acid-producing bacteria (APB), slime-forming bacteria (SFB), sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB). The results displayed that; total bacterial counts were Nil in all samples except one. All samples did not grow in specific media for APB. All the samples displayed positive growth results on SFB specific media. Moreover, only one sample has demonstrated a positive result on SRB specific media. One sample was selected to study its corrosion activities upon its diver’s bacterial community, cultivable on microbially specific media and its real-field corrosion severity. The SFB corrosion`s activities were assessed by determining the variation in bacterial counts, redox potential and metal corrosion rate. Corrosion`s activities of SRB were assessed by examining alterations in dissolved sulfide, redox potential and metal corrosion rate. Surface morphology was examined using scanning electron microscopy.