Be your system's MIC Paramedics!
When an accident happens, the ones who come first to the scene to start the medical rescue procdure are paramedics. They attend before physicians and specialists come and see the patient. The same is also true when you have a microbial corrosion case in your plant.
Below I will give you some hints to act like a microbial corrosion paramedic (not specialist) and thus start the most correct rescue/slavage operation plan.
Industry professionals often see some sympotms in their assets in the shape of scales/deposits and they wonder if it is microbial corrosion (MIC) particularly caused by sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB).
Nowadays, it has been a trend by some pseudo-experts of MIC to copy/paste from here and there to put to gether some semi-true statements about MIC. On the other hand, we can find some people who have indeed been involved in MIC business but you have to be very careful about what they say: microbiologists-due to the nature of their works- are more prone to pay attention to bacterial characterisation and/or suggest the best molecular methods (MMM) to recognise the bacteria/arcahaea involved in MIC of your caseand the like. They cannot think about suggesting other measures to deal with MIC (I explained this below under Strategy and Tactics).
Some with engineering backgroung,though, may be still clinging to the theories and practices (and beliefs) belonging to the golden era of MIC research (1980s). Be hold! what you read from their notes and papers may contain a lot of attractive and useful info for the layman, however for an MIC professional , what they say are-at the best- yesterday's news.
For an immediate diagnosis of what the hell is going on, the below may prove to be practically useful. However, a note of caustion; do consult with an MIC professional before doing anything or making any deciosns, PLEASE!
I) Prepare a?diluted HCl (hudrochloric acid)?solution and drop it on the deposit taken from within the pipe, for instance, and "sniff" the smell immeiately. Repeat it on three different samples taken from the initial section, middle section and as deep as you can go through from the internal deposits. Note down the smell, what is it like?
II) Report the colour of the deposit as soon as it is removed (try not to expose it to air) .Take as many coloured pictures and videos as you can!
III)?Wear rubber gloves and take a small piece of the deposit from as deep as internal space of the failed pipe and describe its touch, does it feel like soft and slimy? How does it feel? As soon as you touched it, wash your hands under running warm water with soap and dry it out with paper towel.
IV) Wait a little and then, observing all safety measures, burn that piece of despoit and report how the smell is like, does is it smell like "burned hair"?
V)?Report fluid linear velocity, temperature and pH profile, TDS (Total dissolved solids) of the fluid (if applicable).
Defining all the above correctly, can be essential in properly defining the case and try to find the best solution (Strategy and TTactics).
Strategy consists of (1) screening (realising the types of organisms found in the environmnet); (2) understanding the MIC mechanisms involved and (3) realising if our aim is corrosion prevention or corrosion control. Tactics involve (1) treatment technologies such as physical measures (coating); chemical measures (bicides); electrical measures (Cathodic Protection);Mechanical measures (PIGing); design modifications; materials selection and use of predictive models. Another factor in Tactics is (2) monitoring: monitor your system for early recognition of the problem and contnue on monitoring to see if what you applied as the remedy, will work well.
Hope this much coud help!