Decoding the Mysteries of Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion: The Need for a Multidisciplinary Approach for Integrating Multiple Lines of Evidence

Microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) is a complex phenomenon that is not fully understood due to the lack of comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms of MIC, the role of microbial communities in corrosion, the impact of environmental factors, and corrosion rate prediction models. Despite increasing knowledge and disruptive breakthroughs in the understanding of fundamental concepts and the application of these concepts for industrial MIC management, several gaps related to the management of MIC remain. For example, there are no simple thresholds for different microbiological and environmental parameters that can be used for conclusive assessment of MIC. While the use of multiple lines of evidence for MIC investigations is becoming widely accepted, the interpretation of the data collected using multiple lines of evidence approach is not straightforward and requires careful integration of various types of data to make key decisions. In this paper, the use of a multidisciplinary data integration methodology for MIC threat assessment, MIC failure analysis, and biocide selection will be discussed. Case studies were used to illustrate the multidisciplinary data integration methodology.