Evolution of Biofilm and Its Effect on Microstructure of Mortar Surfaces in Simulated Seawater

Abstract

To explore the role of biofilm formation on the corrosion of marine concrete structures, we investigated the attachment of biofilm on mortar surfaces in simulated seawater and the influence of biofilm on the microstructure of mortar surfaces. The results show that the evolution of biofilm on mortar surfaces in simulated seawater is closely related to the corrosion suffered by the mortar, and the process of biofilm attachment and shedding is continuous and cyclical. It is found that the specimens in the absence of biofilm attachment are more severely eroded internally by the corrosive medium in simulated seawater than those in the presence of biofilm attachment. For the specimens without biofilm attachment, after 60 days, gypsum forms, and after 120 days, the number of pores in the mortar is reduced. In contrast, for the specimens in the presence of biofilm attachment, gypsum could only be detected after 90 days, and fewer pores are filled. Therefore, the formation of biofilm could delay the invasion of the corrosive medium into the interior of mortar during the evolution of biofilm on mortar surfaces, mitigating the corrosion of mortars in seawater.

Keywords

biofilm attachment / mortar / sulfur-oxidizing bacteria / gypsum / simulated seawater / microstructure

References

[1] Parker C D. The Corrosion of Concrete: 1. The Isolation of a Species of Bacterium Sssociated with the Corrosion of Concrete Exposed to Atmospheres Containing Hydrogen Sulphide[J]. Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Science, 1945, 23(2): 81-90.

[2] Valls S, Vazquez E. Stabilisation and Solidification of Sewage Sludges with Portland Cement[J]. Cement and Concrete Research, 2000, 30(10): 1 671-1 678.

[3] Wahshat T M. Sulfur Mortar and Polymer Modified Sulfur Mortar Lining for Concrete Sewer Pipe[D], 2001 Ames: Iowa State University.

[4] Pikaar I, Sharma K R, Hu S, et al. Reducing Sewer Corrosion through Integrated Urban Water Management[J]. Science, 2014, 345(6198): 812-814.

[5] Sydney R, Esfandi E, Surapaneni S. Control Concrete Sewer Corrosion via the Crown Spray pProcess[J]. Water Environment Research, 1996, 68(3): 338-347.

[6] Rong H, Yu C, Ma G, et al. Research Progress on Microbial Corrosion of Concrete in Sewage Environment[J]. Journal of the Chinese Ceramic Society, 2021, 49(5): 988-999.

[7] Rong H, Yu C, Zhang S, et al. Sulfur Oxidation Characteristics of Sulfur Oxidizing Bacteria under Different Substrates and Its Effect on Properties of Mortar[J]. Journal of the Chinese Ceramic Society, 2021, 49(8): 1 650-1 661.

[8] Rong H, Yu C, Ma G, et al. Growth Characteristics of Sulfur Oxidizing Bacteria and Its Influence on Mortar Properties[J]. Journal of Building Materials, 2021, 24(5): 937-945+985.

[9] Monteny J, Belie N D, Vincke E, et al. Chemical and Microbiological Tests to Simulate Sulfuric Acid Corrosion of Polymer-modified Concrete[J]. Cement and Concrete Research, 2001, 31(9): 1 359-1 365.

[10] Monteny J, Vincke E, Beeldens A, et al. Chemical, Microbiological, and in situ Test Methods for Biogenic Sulfuric Acid Corrosion of Concrete[J]. Cement and Concrete Research, 2000, 30(4): 623-634.

[11] Lin K. Effect of BioIogical Sulfuric Acid on Degradation and Chloride Ion Binding of SAC Sea Sand Concrete[D], 2016 Fuzhou: Fuzhou University.

[12] O’Connell M, McNally C, Richardson M G. Biochemical Attack on Concrete in Wastewater Applications: A State of the Art Review[J]. Cement and Concrete Composites, 2010, 32(7): 479-485.

[13] Belie N D, Monteny J, Beeldens A, et al. Experimental Research and Prediction of the Effect of Chemical and Biogenic Sulfuric Acid on Different Types of Commercially Produced Concrete Sewer Pipes[J]. Cement and Concrete Research, 2004, 34(12): 2 223-2 236.

[14] Veza J M, Ortiz M, Sadhwani J J, et al. Measurement of Biofouling in Seawater: Some Practical Tests[J]. Desalination, 2008, 220(1–3): 326-334.

[15] Rong H, Zhang S, Ma G, et al. Formation, Growth and Corrosion Effect of Sulfur Oxidizing Bacteria Biofilm on Mortar[J]. Construction and Building Materials, 2021, 268(1): 121 218

[16] Rong H, Liu J, Ma G, et al. Influencing Mechanism of Sulfur-oxidizing Bacteria on Performance of Mortar in Sewage[J]. Journal of Building Materials, 2021, 24(3): 454-459.

[17] Kong L, Liu C, Cao M, et al. Mechanism Study of the Role of Biofilm Played in Sewage Corrosion of Mortar[J]. Construction and Building Materials, 2018, 164: 44-56.

[18] Satoh H, Odagiri M, Ito T, et al. Microbial Community Structures and in situ Sulfate-reducing and Sulfur-oxidizing Activities in Biofilms Developed on Mortar Specimens in a Corroded Sewer System[J]. Water Research, 2009, 43(18): 4 729-4 739.

[19] Annuk H, Moran A P. Microbial Biofilm-related Polysaccharides in Biofouling and Corrosion[M], 2010 San Diego: Academic Press.

[20] Grengg C, Mittermayr F, Ukrainczyk N, et al. Advances in Concrete Materials for Sewer Systems Affected by Microbial Induced Concrete Corrosion: A Review[J]. Water Research, 2018, 134: 341-352.

[21] Devlin H, Hiebner D, Barros C, et al. A High Throughput Method to Investigate Nanoparticle Entrapment Efficiencies in Biofilms[J]. Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, 2020, 193: 111 123.

[22] Chaves S, Longo M, López A, et al. Control of Microbial Biofilm Formation as an Approach for Biomaterials Synthesis[J]. Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, 2020, 194: 111 201.

[23] Karygianni L, Ren Z, Koo H, et al. Biofilm Matrixome: Extracellular Components in Structured Microbial Communities[J]. Trends in Microbiology, 2020, 28(8): 668-681.

[24] Flemming H. Biofouling and Me: My Stockholm Syndrome with Biofilms[J]. Water Research, 2020, 173: 115 576.

[25] Kong L, Bao X, Cao M. Effect of Biofilm on Corrosion of Concrete in Sewage[J]. Journal of the Chinese Ceramic Society, 2016, 44(2): 279-285.

[26] Gao S, Tang X. Impact Mechanism of Marine Biofilm on Concrete Durability[J]. Chemical Engineering Transactions, 2018, 64: 613-618.

[27] Gamfeldt L, Lefcheck J S, Byrnes J E, et al. Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning: What’s Known and What’s Next?[J]. Oikos, 2015, 124(3): 252-265.

[28] Ding R. Mechanism and Prevention of Microorganism Corrosion of Aluminate Cementitious Materials in Seawater Environment[D], 2018 Shijiazhuang: Shijiazhuang Tiedao University.

[29] Ma M, Liu J, Chen L. Optimization and Improvement of Color Development Conditions for the Determination of Polysaccharide Content by Phenol-sulfuric Acid Method[J]. Jiangsu Agricultural Sciences, 2015, 43(12): 323-324.

[30] Jiang J, Sun Y, Zhang Y, et al. Method for Fast Judgment of Inland Waterway Wreck Based on AIS[C]. Proceedings of 2018 International Conference on Mechatronic Systems and Robots, Singapore, 2018: 120–123

[31] Rong H, Liu J, Ma G, et al. Biofilm Formed by Sulfur-oxidizing Bacteria in Sewage and Its Effect on Micro-properties of Mortar[J]. Journal of the Chinese Ceramic Society, 2021, 49(6): 1 230-1 237.

[32] Dong B, Zhuang Z, Gu Z, et al. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy Analysis of Cl⁻ Penetration in Slag Concrete[J]. Journal of Shenzhen University Science and Engineering, 2019, 36(3): 268-273.

[33] Dong B, Zhang J, Liu Y, et al. Tracing Hydration Feature of Aluminophosphate Cementitious Materials by Means of Electrochemical Impedance Method[J]. Construction and Building Materials, 2016, 113: 997-1 006.

[34] Hibiya K, Nagai J, Tsuneda S, et al. Simple Prediction of Oxygen Penetration Depth in Biofilms for Wastewater Treatment[J]. Biochemical Engineering Journal, 2004, 19(1): 61-68.

[35] Kassinger S J, Hoek M L V. Biofilm Architecture: An Emerging Synthetic Biology Target[J]. Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology, 2020, 5(1): 1-10.

[36] Zhang X, Bishop P L, Kupferle M J. Measurement of Polysaccharides and Proteins in Biofilm Extracellular Polymers[J]. Water Science and Technology, 1998, 37(4–5): 345-348.

[37] Hu Z, Jin J, Abruña H D, et al. Spatial Distributions of Copper in Microbial Biofilms by Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy[J]. Environmental Science and Technology, 2007, 41(3): 936-941.

[38] Guine V, Spadini L, Sarret G, et al. Zinc Sorption to Three Gram-negative Bacteria: Combined Titration, Modeling, and EXAFS Study[J]. Environmental Science and Technology, 2006, 40(6): 1 806-1 813.

[39] Long G, Xie Y, Tang X. Evaluating Deterioration of Concrete by Sulfate Attack[J]. Journal of Wuhan University of Technology-Materials Science Edition, 2007, 22(3): 572-576.

[40] Niu D, Jiang L, Fei Q. Deterioration Mechanism of Sulfate Attack on Concrete under Freeze-thaw Cycles[J]. Journal of Wuhan University of Technology-Materials Science Edition, 2013, 28(6): 1 172-1 176.

[41] Geng Y, Jin Z, Hou B, et al. Long-term Behavior of Fiber Reinforced Concrete Exposed to Sulfate Solution Cycling in Drying-immersion[J]. Journal of Wuhan University of Technology-Materials Science Edition, 2017, 32(4): 875-881.

[42] Huber B, Hilbig H, Drewes J E, et al. Evaluation of Concrete Corrosion after Short- and Long-term Exposure to Chemically and Microbially Generated Sulfuric Acid[J]. Cement and Concrete Research, 2017, 94: 36-48.