CHARACTERIZATION OF MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES IN GAS INDUSTRY PIPELINES

摘要

Corrosion is a key concern in gas pipeline maintenance and safety. Pipeline corrosion has beenrnestimated to cost the gas industry as much as $840 million/yr, and 40% of corrosion has beenrnestimated to be microbially influenced corrosion (MIC). Recent advances in genetics havernallowed scientists to examine microbial communities in far greater detail than was previouslyrnpossible. This resulted in the discovery that traditional microbiology studies vastly underestimaternthe biocomplexity of microbial communities and routinely fails to identify important members ofrnmicrobial communities. The purpose of this study was to apply genetic techniques to therncharacterization of microbial communities present in natural gas pipelines. A more thoroughrnunderstanding of the composition and variability of microbial communities present in gasrnpipelines may lead to new and/or improved methods to monitor and control MIC. Previousrnmicrobiology studies indicated that sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) may be the most importantrnbacteria as regards MIC; however, the preliminary results of genetic investigations reported herernindicate that SRB are not necessarily detectable in biofilms associated with corrosion. Therncomposition of microbial communities varies considerably in different pipelines, but the mostrnfrequently encountered bacterial species was Comamonas denitrificans, which was notrnpreviously reported to be associated with microbial communities found in gas pipelines orrnassociated with MIC. Further microbial ecology studies are needed to better characterize thernbacterial communities found in gas pipelines, and to develop improved ways of monitoring andrncontrolling MIC.