Microbiological induced corrosion in the paper industry

Abstract

Microbial deposits (slime or biofilm) formation is one of the most important problems in the paper industry. Slime formation cause a reduction of the final product quality (spots, holes, odours), as well as in the production and equipment life, due to a greater number of web breaks, down time for cleaning and maintenance of the machinery, corrosion, etc. Microbiologically-induced corrosion cause an important economic losses due to the reduction of the equipment life. In microbially-induced corrosion studies is basic the rapid and precise determination of the evolution of slime growth on metallic surfaces. Thus, the goal of the present work have been the development of a methodology that leads to characterize the population of aerobic bacteria that compose the slimes of a board mill by means of multiparametric flow cytometry, using two different angles of light scattering and the total protein content as parameters, as first step of the studies of microbiologically-induced corrosion.