Corrosion and Electrochemical Behavior of 316L Stainless Steel in Sulfate-reducing and Iron-oxidizing Bacteria Solutions

Corrosion and electrochemical behavior of 316L stainless steel was investigated in the presence of aerobic iron-oxidizing bacteria IOB and anaerobic sulfate-reducing bacteria SRB isolated from cooling water systems in an oil refinery using electrochemical measurement, scanning electron microscopy SEM and energy dispersive atom X-ray analysisEDAX. The results show the corrosion potential and pitting potential of 316L stainless steel decrease distinctly in the presence of bacteria, in comparison with those observed in sterile medium under the same exposure time. SEM morphologies have shown that 316L stainless steel reveals no signs of pitting attack in the sterile medium. However, micrometer-scale corrosion pits were observed on 316L stainless steel sur- face in the presence of bacteria. The presence of SRB leads to higher corrosion rates than IOB. The interactions between the stainless steel surface, abiotic corrosion products, and bacterial cells and their metabolic products in- creased the corrosion damage degree of the passive film and accelerated pitting propagation.