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Bacterial Degradation and Corrosion of Naphtha in Transporting Pipeline

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Abstract

Five naphtha hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria including representative strains of the two classified species (Serratia marcescensAR1, Bacillus pumilusAR2, Bacillus carboniphilus AR3, Bacillus megaterium AR4, and Bacillus cereus AR5) were identified by 16S rDNA gene sequence in a naphtha-transporting pipeline. The naphtha-degrading strains were able to be involved in the corrosion process of API 5LX steel and also utilized the naphtha as the sole carbon source. The biodegradation of naphtha by the bacterial isolates was characterized by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Weight-loss measurement on the corrosion of API 5LX steel in the presence/absence of consortia grown in naphtha–water aqueous media was performed. The scanning electron microscope observation showed that the consortia were able to attack the steel API 5LX surface, creating localized corrosion (pit). The biodegradation of naphtha by the strains AR1, AR2, AR3, AR4, and AR5 showed biodegradation efficiency of about 76.21, 67.20, 68.78, 68.78, and 68.15, respectively. The role of degradation on corrosion has been discussed. This basic study will be useful for the development of new approaches for the detection, monitoring, and control of microbial corrosion in a petroleum product pipeline.

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Acknowledgments

We thank CSIR, India for the Senior Research Fellow (SRF) granted to one of the authors (A. Rajasekar). We thank Shri. N. Muthukumar, SRF of CECRI, for his help with GC-MS spectral recordings and related discussions and Dr. S. Mohanan and Dr. P. Subramanian CECRI, for their help in the field collection at petroleum product pipelines in southwest India. The authors also thank to Dr. K. Pitchumani and Mr. Vijayakumar of the School of Chemistry, Madurai Kamaraj University for their in GC-MS analysis.

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  1. Biocorrosion, Corrosion Protection Division, Central Electrochemical Research Institute, Karaikudi, 630 006, India

    A. Rajasekar, S. Ponmariappan, S. Maruthamuthu & N. Palaniswamy

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  1. A. Rajasekar
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  2. S. Ponmariappan
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  3. S. Maruthamuthu
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  4. N. Palaniswamy
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Correspondence to A. Rajasekar.

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Rajasekar, A., Ponmariappan, S., Maruthamuthu, S. et al. Bacterial Degradation and Corrosion of Naphtha in Transporting Pipeline. Curr Microbiol 55, 374–381 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-007-9001-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-007-9001-z

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