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The case study demonstrates different approaches towards what went wrong and why on pressure safety valve susceptible to MIC growth. The Eocene Sub Centre-1 Shipping Pump discharge header connected pressure safety valve (01PSV172) reported leaking from the body and POD requested Asset Integrity Division to conduct Root Cause Analysis with recommendation.
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The monitoring program used in the Danish Sector of the North Sea to manage microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) risk assessment for seven pipelines. Quantitative data on microbial activity was obtained from pigging debris using real-time polymerase chain reaction of MIC-causing microorganisms.
Robust integrity management plans are critical for ensuring the lifespan and preventing failures of manmade infrastructure, including the metal (carbon steel) infrastructure that dominates the oil and gas industry. In this sector and others, many types of corrosion can occur on metal infrastructure, including corrosion that involves the participation of microorganisms, commonly referred to as microbiologically influenced corrosion, or MIC. MIC can be difficult to diagnose as the cause of a given infrastructure failure because it is not a stand-alone mechanism – the physical and chemical properties of a system can influence the types of microorganisms that are present and active, while the metabolisms of these microorganisms can influence the surrounding chemistry and physical properties of a system.
By far, the microbiological species most associated with corrosion has been Sulphate-Reducing Bacteria (SRB). Majority of Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (MIC) research has focused on the activities of this type of bacteria. One of the primary reasons for this has been the presence of iron sulfides in corrosion products associated with MIC. SRB reduce sulfates to sulfides, which then react with iron and steel. However, an accepted fact is that MIC is also caused by the action of the biofilm produced by bacteria, in a similar way to under-deposit corrosion.
The primary method used to prevent MIC in the oil and gas industry is by use of biocides. The criteria used for selection of biocides is often their proficiency to kill SRB. The danger with this is that one can neglect the ability of other bacteria frequently found in oil and gas environment, such as general aerobes and general anaerobes to cause corrosion by biofilm production. This became evident when severe general & pitting corrosion was observed in two oil and gas separators in one of the facilities in Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), where SRB levels were zero but significant numbers of sessile and planktonic general aerobes and general anaerobes were found to be present in the process.
Using microbiological and chemical analysis, the mechanism of this type of MIC, specially the relationship between the quantity of various biofilm-forming bacteria and nature and magnitude of corrosion has been studied and the findings are presented in this paper.
MIC is a major threat to oil pipelines because it reduces the service life of pipelines and can potentially leads to catatrophes. Microbial communities commonly associated with pipeline corrosion include sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB), acid producing bacteria (APB), acetogenic bacteria and methanogens. In a field environment, SRB, APB and other microbes often live in a synergistic biofilm consortium. Sessile SRB are often the main culprit of MIC. They can utilize sulfate as the terminal electron acceptor and various carbon sources and elemental iron as electron donors. Corrosive APB biofilms are also a contributing factor in an acidic environment because they release H+ which is an oxidant.
The refining industry has made significant strides in technology and materials science, resulting in increased efficiency and reliability of various refinery units. Despite these advancements, unexpected failures persist, leading to costly downtime and potential safety hazards. A recent instance of premature failure in a newly commissioned Naphtha Hydrotreating unit (NHT) highlights the challenges that still exist in maintaining the integrity of critical infrastructure.
MIC-causing microorganisms were investigated in a 16” diameter and 9.6 km long injection water pipeline. Nitrate was added to the water and pigging debris from the pipeline showed that both sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB), nitrate-utilizing bacteria, and methanogens were present in numbers of 105 – 106 cells/g.
Microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) is one of the most aggressive forms of corrosion leading to infrastructure and equipment damage in various industries, including but not limited to the oil and gas industry,1 water systems,2 medical devices,3 marine environments,4 nuclear waste storage facilities,5 and aviation fuel systems6 and storage.7 MIC received great attention because of the increasing cost associated with corrosion damage, particularly in oil and gas industry. The overall cost of corrosion has been estimated to be approximately 3.4% in the global Gross National Product8 which equates to approximately $2.9 trillion in 2018.9 A conservative estimate shows that 20% of all corrosion in aqueous system is MIC,10 which accounts to billions of dollars in the US.