Corrosion and biofouling tendency of carbon steel in anoxic groundwater containing Sulphate Reducing Bacteria and Methanogenic Archaea. Microbially induced corrosion by SRM and methanogens

The corrosion of carbon steel in groundwater in with or without of sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB) and/or methanogenic archaea (MA) was examined in a 12-month experiment simulating a geological underground repository for nuclear waste. In the abiotic environment, cumulative corrosion rate was lowest among the studied systems, 1 µm/a. In biotic environments, the cumulative corrosion varied between 5 µm/a and 10 µm/a, being highest in SRB enriched system and lowest in SRB+MA system. However, localised corrosion was more intensive in all systems. Microbial community differed between environments from betaproteobacterial taxa dominated (SRB) to Desulfovibrionales and Methanobacteriales rich in SRB+MA/MA.