Author(s)

Khadija Elmouaden¹, Shehdeh Jodeh^2*, Aicha Chaouay¹, Rachid Oukhrib¹, Rachid Salghi^3*, Lahcen Bazzi¹, Mustapha Hilali¹

¹Materials and Environment Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco.
²Department of Chemistry, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine.
³Engineering Team of Environment and Biotechnology, University Ibn Zohr, Agadir, Morocco.

In this study, the electrochemical corrosion behavior of copper was investigated in seawater collected from four different marine zones of Agadir coastal. These zones are different by the degree of pollution in order to study the effect of this pollution on the copper corrosion, especially the microbial pollution by sulfate reducing-bacteria (SRB). So, to prove this relationship, the microbiological analyses researching the SRB are realized. In parallel, the electrochemical impedance measurement and atomic absorption analysis are established to compare the microbiological evolution cycles with the electrochemical behavior of copper during the immersion period. In the results, we found a good correlation between the growth cycle of marine sulfate-reducing bacteria and the copper corrosion rate by the sulfur and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) produced as bacteria metabolites. Additionally, this corrosion rate depends on the immersed time: it is maximal after the first or second month depending on the marine zone.

Bacterial Pollution, Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria, Biofilm, Corrosion, Copper, Natural Seawater

Elmouaden, K. , Jodeh, S. , Chaouay, A. , Oukhrib, R. , Salghi, R. , Bazzi, L. and Hilali, M. (2016) Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria Impact on Copper Corrosion Behavior in Natural Seawater Environment. Journal of Surface Engineered Materials and Advanced Technology, 6, 36-46. doi: 10.4236/jsemat.2016.62004.