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Twenty years of experience with corrosion failures caused by manganese oxidizing microorganisms
Author(s) -
Linhardt P.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
materials and corrosion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.487
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1521-4176
pISSN - 0947-5117
DOI - 10.1002/maco.201005769
Subject(s) - manganese , oxidizing agent , corrosion , dissolution , environmental chemistry , microorganism , metal , chemistry , metallurgy , materials science , geology , organic chemistry , bacteria , paleontology
Manganese oxidizing microorganisms are known as ubiquitous species in soil and fresh water. Their ability to extract dissolved manganese even at minute concentrations from the water and to biomineralize it as manganese(III/IV)oxides makes them potentially relevant for corrosion processes in technical systems carrying freshwater. These oxides are known as strong oxidants and may act as catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction. Thus, they are cathodically active, possibly driving anodic metal dissolution processes. The personal experiences over two decades from failure analysis related to these organisms have indeed shown that manganese oxidizers may appear in all kinds of freshwater systems. This paper summarizes observations and conclusions drawn from these cases and provides an overview on the methods found useful in their investigation.