16 February 2007
Contamination of wilderness areas and the loss of millions of dollars of oil could be averted by reversing the impact of a class of microbes.
Monash University researchers are working on a project aimed at reducing corrosion in gas and oil pipelines - which could save industry millions of dollars each year.
Mr Lex Edmond, who is managing the project at the Monash Centre for Advanced Materials Technology (CAMT), said industry and the general community had the potential to reap "significant and wide-ranging benefits" from the research.
"Pipeline owners currently spend millions of dollars on corrosion inhibitors and biocides in an attempt to control internal corrosion. Occasionally, even their best efforts are unsuccessful," Mr Edmond said.
"This can lead to pipeline ruptures, interruption of supply, major property and personal damage, and unacceptable pollution and contamination of what are often wilderness areas.
"Most of this pipeline corrosion is caused by microbes and if we can counteract the microbes' impact, we can prevent oil spills that are just waiting to happen." Mr Edmond said.
A Monash research team, collaborating with industry, is investigating a class of compounds called furanones, which have never before been tested for their potential to reduce the corrosion caused by microbes in oil and gas pipelines. Results to date indicate that these compounds will provide better corrosion protection, at lower cost, than traditional treatments.
"These compounds were originally developed and patented by Biosignal Ltd as agents for preventing and disrupting biofilms (microbial growths on surfaces) in biomedical applications," he said.
Dr Jonathan Upfal, from Melbourne-based company QStat, first saw the potential application of furanones in oil and gas pipelines, where some micro-organisms thrive in seemingly hostile environments.
QStat and Biosignal considered CAMT - well known for its industrial research into pipeline and microbial corrosion - as the ideal way of making the connection between the commercial world and the corrosion and microbial facilities/expertise within the Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering and Microbiology departments at Monash University.
The project began in September 2006 and is expected to be completed shortly.
Mr Edmond can be contacted on 0438 434 316 or +61 3 9905 5287. For more information contact Mr John Watts on +61 3 9905 9201 or 0448 574 148.
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