A Novel Approach for Microbial Corrosion Assessment

Materials corrosion in the presence of bacteria [microbiologically influenced corrosion, (MIC)] is an important issue for components deployed in industrial applications and marine environments, where unexpected and fast degradation is often observed. For these reasons, finding new testing methodologies to assess the behavior of different materials in these conditions is a topic of clear interest. This paper describes a new approach based on the use of microbial fuel cells, which are exploited to have known and controlled conditions during the test. The sample is immersed in an environment where the presence and activity of electroactive bacteria are easily monitored measuring the currents flowing between the electrodes of the cell. Then, after connecting the sample of the material under study, reactions occurring on its surface can be monitored and its corrosion resistance can be assessed. This novel methodology is simple, easy to deploy, and can be proposed to assess microbial corrosion resistance of metals and alloys, monitoring, at the same time, the biofilm grown on the metals surface.