Corrosion mechanism of sulfate-reducing bacteria in biofilms in high-temperature oil reservoirs and inhibition strategies

Abstract:

Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB), the anaerobic bacteria omnipresent in petroleum reservoirs, play an essential part in the cycling of sulfur in oil reservoirs. Many SRB can reduce sulfate to hydrogen sulfide which corrodes metal pipes, thus leading to lots of safety problems such as oil spill and causing economic loss of over 700 billion CNY each year. In this paper, the diversity of microbial communities living within biofilms of reservoirs and the synergistic corrosion mechanism of SRB with other related groups in biofilms were first summarized. Then, the sulfur-nitrogen-hydrogen biogeochemical cycle mediated by SRB in high-temperature reservoirs, the extracellular electron transfer mechanism, and the corrosion were discussed. Moreover, we introduced the field cases of SRB corrosion in high-temperature oil reservoirs to further elucidate the mechanism of SRB corrosion. Finally, we proposed to control the corrosion of SRB in biofilms in high-temperature reservoirs with nanomaterials.

Key words:high-temperature oil reservoirs;biofilm;microorganism corrosion;sulfate-reducing bacteria;nano-bacteriostatic