Consequences of sulphate-reducing bacterial growth in a lab-simulated waste disposal regime

Summary Experiments are described which investigate corrosion of forged 0.2% carbon steel in the presence of sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB). Cultures of a thermophilic bacteriumDesulfotomaculum nigrificans were mixed with bentonite and synthetic groundwater to simulate a bacteria-contamined backfill, and placed in contact with carbon steel disc specimens in perspex cells at 50°C under anaerobic conditions. The rates of corrosion were monitored by electrochemical techniques, together with changes in near field redox potential. After 340 days the nature and extent of any corrosion was measured and the SRB content of the bentonite determined. Recovery of relatively large numbers of bacteria after about one year incubation in an alkaline (pH 9.5) medium confirmed the pH tolerance of the strain. Enhanced corrosion (three times the rate of the control) occurred in at least two of the five cells that contained SRB despite the nutritionally poor environment which existed in the bentonite gel.