Assessment of new Methodology for Detection of Sulfate Reducing Microorganisms (SRM) as applied to Oil Gas Industry

摘要

The sulfate reducing microorganisms (SRM) are a diverse taxonomic group ofBacteria and Archaea growing under anaerobic and heterotrophic condition andgenerating a biofilm inside pipes, tanks and other metallic surfaces. The SRM usesthe dissolved sulfate ion as reducing agent and generating hydrogen sulfide (H2S)which is the main corrosion agent of iron and other metallic surfaces. Many effortsare directed towards to develop methods for rapid enumeration of SRM in order toobtain fast diagnosis of microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) based on thepresence and the numbers of SRM in the medium. The main objective of this studywas to evaluate a new methodology for the detection and enumeration of SRMderived from Oil and gas samples by comparing the traditional multi-tubes methodwith new proposed methodology of 96 well microplate readings. The results of theenumeration of SRM at various sampling points of Oil and Gas terminal showed asignificant reduction in time required for diagnosis of SRM in all samples. Generallythe traditional method took 28 days for quantification of SRM numbers while themicroplate method required only 7 days completing the SRM diagnosis and counts.Thus, this new proposed method can be very useful tool for Oil and Gas to monitorde SRM and biocorrosion prediction, avoiding losses and metallic rupture withattenuation of possible environmental impacts.