Biocorrosion detection by sulphur isotopic fractionation measurements

Sophie Grousset (1, 2, 3, 4) , Laurent Urios (5) , S. Mostefaoui (6) , Alexandre Dauzères (4) , Didier Crusset (3) , Valérie Deydier (3) , Yannick Linard (3) , Florence F. Mercier-Bion (1, 7) , Delphine D. Neff (1, 7) , Philippe Dillmann (1, 7)

1 LAPA - UMR 3685 - Laboratoire Archéomatériaux et Prévision de l'Altération
2 IRAMAT - Institut de Recherches sur les Archéomatériaux
3 ANDRA - Agence Nationale pour la Gestion des Déchets Radioactifs
4 IRSN/PSE-ENV/SEDRE/LETIS - Laboratoire d'étude et de recherche sur les transferts et les interactions dans les sous-sols
5 IPREM - Institut des sciences analytiques et de physico-chimie pour l'environnement et les materiaux
6 IMPMC - Institut de minéralogie, de physique des matériaux et de cosmochimie
7 IRAMAT - LMC - IRAMAT - Laboratoire Métallurgies et Cultures

This innovative study presents a local diagnosis approach based on nanoSIMS technique to determine the biotic/abiotic origin of iron sulphides of (sub)micron size heterogeneously located in the corrosion product layers of iron. For iron coupons corroded in controlled conditions, negative δ34Ssulphides-sulphates were obtained in biotic conditions contrary to δ34Ssulphides-sulphates obtained in abiotic ones. These results underline that nanoSIMS is a reliable local technique to detect the formation origin of (sub)micron iron sulphides. This successful methodology was then applied to a complex system representative of an iron corroded in the conditions similar to those of radioactive wastes storage in geological medium.

Keywords: microbiological corrosion; NanoSIMS; iron sulphide; sulphur isotopic fractionation

Domains: Material chemistry

Sophie Grousset, Laurent Urios, S. Mostefaoui, Alexandre Dauzères, Didier Crusset, et al.. Biocorrosion detection by sulphur isotopic fractionation measurements. Corrosion Science, 2020, 165, pp.108386. ⟨10.1016/j.corsci.2019.108386⟩. ⟨cea-02412940⟩