Clean Biocide Project: Natural Corrosion Inhibitors Halophilic Plant Extracts for Biofilm Mitigation

Corrosion is a concern in the oil and gas industry, and it is estimated that 40% or more of corrosion related maintenance costs are related to microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) much of which caused by sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) in particular. This poster will showcase the project’s progress in developing biocides from halophytes (salt tolerant plants) that inhibit biofilm formation. These plants can be grown in land unfit for conventional agriculture and contain potent antimicrobials to help them survive. Experiments testing the efficacy of halophyte-based biocides have been carried out at laboratory scale. The sulfate-reducing ability of an anaerobic mixed microbial bacterial culture in Postgate medium1 was evaluated while adding various halophyte extracts, some of which showed a more than 100-fold reduction of sulfate to H2S. Subsequent 16S rRNA Amplicon Sequencing has further confirmed that some of the extracts seem to inhibit SRBs particularly well.