Development of microbially influenced corrosion on carbon steel in a simulated water injection system

Microbially influenced corrosion (MIC) on internal pipeline surfaces has become a severe problem during the water injection process in secondary oil recovery. The formation of a biofilm, normally dominated by sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB), is believed to be the critical step of the MIC process. A continuously fed biofilm simulating the water injection process was operated to investigate the influence of biofilm development on MIC behavior in the early phase of corrosion development. The development of the corrosion product film and biofilm was monitored for 5 months with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, linear polarization resistance, scanning electron microscopy, 3D optical profiling, and direct weight measurement. MIC development was found to comprise three phases: initialization, transition, and stabilization. The initialization phase involved the formation of the corrosion product layer and the initial attachment of the sessile microbes on metal surface. In the transition phase, the MIC process gradually shifted from charge-transfer-controlled reaction to diffusion-controlled reaction. The stabilization phase featured mature and compact biofilm on the metal surface, and the general corrosion rate (CR) decreased due to the diffusional effect, while the pitting CR was enhanced at a lower carbon source level, which supported the mechanism of direct electron uptake from the metal surface by SRB.