Sulfate Reducing Bacteria
SRB-BART™

Sulfate Reducing Bacteria are responsible for extreme damage to piping and support equipment in many industries. They are probably the most destructive part of the MIC group. Sulfate-reducing bacteria are a group of anaerobic bacteria (i.e. don't need oxygen) that generate hydrogen sulfide (H2S). H2S can cause a number of significant problems in water. These problems range from “rotten egg” odors to the blackening of equipment, iron sulfide formation (black solids), slime formations, and extensive corrosion. SRB microorganisms are difficult to detect because they are anaerobic and tend to grow deep down within biofilms (slimes) as part of a microbial community. SRB are very adaptive and may need the exact pressure, temperature, and velocity conditions of the system in question to thrive. When those conditions do not exist, the SRB form protective "spores" and may lie dormant for thousands of years until the right conditions exist for them to thrive again. SRB may not be present in the free-flowing water over the site of the fouling. It may take years to see the results from this pitting-type corrosion. Or the process may be swift, pitting in a confined area through the thickness of the iron structure. SRB are so adaptive they have even been known to reduce nitrates to ammonia when sulfur is not present.

If SRB activity is present in the BART, sulfate is reduced to H2S, which reacts with the diffusing ferrous iron to form black iron sulfide. This iron sulfide is the main source of what is called Black Water (iron sulfide). This sulfide commonly forms either in the base (as black precipitates) and/or around the ball (as an irregular black ring) of the BART.