Sulfate reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio vulgaris caused severe microbiologically influenced corrosion of zinc and galvanized steel

The microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) of zinc and galvanized steel caused by a sulfate reducing bacterium (SRB) was investigated. After 7 days of incubation of Desulfovibrio vulgaris in 125 mL anaerobic vials (100 mL culture medium) at 37 °C, the sessile cell coverage on the galvanized steel was slightly higher than that on pure zinc: (1.9 ± 0.2) × 109 cells/cm2 vs. (9.0 ± 1.8) × 108 cells/cm2. The weight losses for galvanized steel and pure zinc were 31.5 ± 2.5 mg/cm2 and 35.4 ± 4.5 mg/cm2, respectively, which were 101 higher than that for carbon steel. The corrosion current densities of galvanized and pure zinc were 25.5 μA/cm2 and 100 μA/cm2, respectively after the 7-day incubation, confirming that galvanized steel was less prone to SRB MIC despite having a slightly higher sessile cell count. In both cases, the corrosion product was mainly ZnS. Three MIC mechanisms were possible for the severe corrosion against the two metals. Extracellular electron transfer MIC (EET-MIC) was thermodynamically favorable for zinc. Furthermore, in the presence of Zn coupons, H2 evolution in the headspace was 5.5 times higher than without Zn coupons, which suggested that proton attack and/or H2S attack also occurred in the corrosion process.