Dear Members,
Welcome to the March/April issue of “Corrosion Management”.
We celebrated International Women’s Day on 8th March, and while compiling the current issue of “Corrosion Management”, I felt immensely proud to feature technical articles by Heike Hoffmann and Michelle Robertson. My journey as the editor of CMJ has introduced me to many extraordinary women in the field of corrosion prevention making remarkable contributions to STEM. Their dedication and achievements strengthen my belief that the future is bright for women in science and engineering.
The first article, “Microbial analysis of biofilm samples from FPSO mooring chains for assessment of microbiologically influenced corrosion risk”, is written by Michelle Robertson of NCIMB. This study investigates microbial biofilm samples retrieved from mooring chains offshore West Africa to assess MIC risk. Utilising qPCR and 16S amplicon sequencing, the analysis revealed a high prevalence of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB), strongly implicating MIC in the observed pitting corrosion.
Heike Hoffmann of Intertek has contributed the technical article “Microbes vs. pipelines: using molecular methods to track corrosion culprits”. This study explores the application of advanced molecular techniques, such as Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and quantitative PCR (qPCR), to better characterize microbial communities contributing to MIC. The study underscores the need for a holistic approach to MIC detection and prevention, ultimately enhancing pipeline longevity and operational reliability.
The 3rd technical article “The importance of MIC monitoring “ by Dr Tony Rizk our ICorr MIC course tutor highlights the importance of microbial monitoring as a crucial preventive measure to mitigate MIC-related failures. The paper explores various sampling techniques, and the findings suggest that integrating microbial, geochemical, and corrosion assessments can enhance the long-term integrity of industrial systems.
Preceding all this in our “Ask the expert” section, Dr Ali Morshed of our London Branch committee has thoroughly described “Why effective MIC control is still a major challenge for many oil and gas assets.”
We invite you to contribute to our upcoming issues. Whether it’s industry news, technical articles, or striking images for our “Corrosion Around Us” feature, your submissions are always welcome. We would also be delighted to receive entries from ICorr Members, for our “Ask the Expert” and “Fellow’s Corner.”
With kindest regards,
Dr Shagufta Khan, FICorr
Consulting Editor
editor@icorr.org
