Effect of hazardous bacteria isolated from copper plumbing system on microbiologically influenced corrosion of copper

Abstract

© 2019 The Authors.Plumbing systems can be affected by Microbiologically Induced Corrosion (MIC). Through this process, microorganisms can modify water quality and jeopardize consumers' health by releasing metal from pipes' surface into the water. While it is known that microorganisms' interactions increase their electrochemical effect on the metal surface, the effect of mixed communities and their interactions remain poorly understood. In this work, we investigated two hazardous bacteria isolated from a copper plumbing system, Variovorax sp, and Ralstonia pickettii. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) showed a changing of oxide layer properties depending on immersion time. At short times, a capacitive behavior was observed at the low-frequency range, transiently including an additional inductive loop. At long times of exposure, the capacitive behavior disappears, and a Warburg behavior is present at the low-frequency. Interestingly, the corrosion was inhibited in pure culture