Characterisation of bulk water samples from copper pipes undergoing microbially influenced corrosion by diagnostic metabolomic profiling

This paper presents the application of metabolomic techniques to determine the presence of microbial influenced corrosion (MIC). In a previous study, the extracellular metabolites expressed from pipe biofilm was identified by analysing the passing water. This investigation extends this work by successfully applying a chemometric statistical analysis to the extracellular metabolomic profile of a number of water samples to identify critical metabolomic biomarkers. The chemometric analysis was able to differentiate samples due to a reduction of carboxylic acids in samples exposed to bacteria believed to cause MIC.

► Analysis of bulk water using metabolomics provides information on pipe biofilm.
► Metabolomic profiling and chemometric analysis can differentiate biofilms.
► A reduction in carboxylic acids was evident in samples exposed to MIC bacteria.