During year 1998, National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) estimated the national expenditure for metallic corrosion to reach nearly 276 Billion . The recent literature now speculates that the total costs for corrosion, including direct and indirect costs, are now reaching as high as ~ $1 trillion/year . The corrosion issues in drinking water and wastewater infrastructure itself costs $36 billion on an annual basis. Giant industries including oil plants, power plants, shipping, and the aviation are also susceptible to corrosion. Certain metallic structures are prone to microbial corrosion at ambient conditions . The engineering community continues is still surprised with the ability of tiny microbes (e.g bacteria and algae) to fail gigantic metallic structures . The microbes exist in the form of robust layers of a slimy biofilm that adheres on the metal surfaces and is often encapsulated in a matrix of extracellular polymeric substances . The eradication of biofilm requires mechanical forces and inhibitory chemicals . A well-cited example of MIC is the failure of emergency fire sprinkler systems (EFSS) due to the formation of pin-hole sized leaks and accumulation of microbial debris in the fittings. The biofilm (<100 μm) is invisible to naked-eye and can slip physical inspection as. The fire fighters can therefore be unaware of the MIC attack until EFSS proves to be non-functional during emergency . Water-handling equipments in water treatment, desalination units, storage tanks, power plants (e.g. heat exchangers), bridges, and marine applications (e.g. docks, piers, boat hulls) are all susceptible to MIC5. The periodic monitoring of MIC is expensive as it requires detection of constantly-evolving microbial population on the surfaces, and these techniques require sophistical laboratory infrastructure.
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