ESTEFANI ARELLANO

ESSAY
WATER TREATMENT
BIOFILM AND CORROSION IN THE OIL INDUSTRY
Of all the failures that occur in the operations of the gas and oil industry the
most important is the corrosion with 33% of the cases. About 40% of the internal
corrosion in pipelines of the petroleum industry is attributed to the microbial activity
this cases are related whit Microbial communities associated to biofilms that
promote corrosion of oil pipelines (Zhu, X.Y. and others 2003). Know how are the
community structure of bacteria in the biofilm formed in oil pipelines is important,
for to prevent this corrosion and give treatment to the already formed corrosion.
In general the biofilm

is a "sessile microbial community, characterized by

cells that are irreversibly attached to a substrate or interface, or to each other,

enclosed in a matrix of extracellular polymer substances which they have
produced, and which exhibit an altered phenotype in relation With the rate of
growth and gene transcription. (Donlan M, 2002 chapter 8). According to
Lewandowski Z., biofilm is not homogeneous; biofilms have a heterogeneous
structure with microorganisms aggregated in clusters, forming physiological
microniches within the biofilm where local chemistries are distinctly different from
the surrounding. The persistence of these highly localized conditions depends on
the activity of the respective physiological groups of microorganisms.
Prevent the corrosion caused by the bacteria that form the biofilm is difficult;
it is becoming more apparent that controlling the corrosion rate may be the most
economical solution. Because in many cases flows are used to prevent the
proliferation, caused that these become resistant. Furthermore when using a flow
to eliminate the bacteria these kill bacteria that benefit and increasing the bacteria
that harm in high percentages.
The biofilm is very related to the corrosion due to have heterogenic structure
is very difficult to prevent despite the efforts of the corrosion engineers. When you
fight the biofilm composed by bacteria that cause corrosion is often killing bacteria
that are helpful in the field, this also causes the bacteria to become resistant.

References
Borenstein, S. (1994). Microbiologically influenced corrosion handbook. Elsevier.
Woodhead Publishing. 288 pp.
Donlan, R. M. (2002). Biofilms: microbial life on surfaces. Emerg Infect Dis, 8(9).
Lewandowski Z. (2000) MIC AND BIOFILM HETEROGENEITY,Center for Biofilm
Engineering, Engineering Research Center, Montana State University
Bozeman
Neria-Gonzlez, I., Wang, E. T., Ramrez, F., Romero, J. M., & HernndezRodrguez, C. (2006). Characterization of bacterial community associated to
biofilms

of

corroded

oil

pipelines

from

the

southeast

of

Mexico. Anaerobe, 12(3), 122-133.

Zhu, X.Y.; J. Lubeck y J.J. Kilbane II. 2003. Characterization of microbial

communities in gas industry pipelines. Appl. Environmental Microbiol.