An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Biofilm Mitigation

Microbial-induced problems in oil and gas incur high costs and cause severe environmental and safety concerns. Most of these problems are directly caused by surface-adhered bacteria colonies known as biofilms. Distinct populations of bacteria within a biofilm can symbiotically alter surrounding conditions that favor proliferation to the extent that leads to corrosion, plugging, and H2S souring. Biocides are antimicrobial products used to eliminate and prevent bacterial growth. The purpose of this initial study is to measure performance of biocides against anaerobic planktonic and sessile bacteria. The three anaerobic conditions tested were biocide performance against planktonic bacteria, against established biofilm, and inhibition of biofilm growth. Biocides containing two types of quaternary ammonium compounds and blends with glutaraldehyde were evaluated against sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) and acid producing bacteria (APB) in both planktonkic and sessile forms. As expected, all of the biocides tested were effective against planktonic bacteria. Quaternary type biocides were found to be particularly effective at controlling sessile anaerobes. Surprisingly, the addition of glutaraldehyde did not appear to provide synergistic benefits and actually had a negative dilutory effect on the performance against biofilms. In all cases, dialkyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (DDAC) was the most efficient biocide in controlling all bacterial forms tested, both planktonic and sessile.