The main objectives of BIOCOR were: 1) to develop a new profile of researcher, capable of addressing and managing all aspects of scientific and/or industrial problems related to MIC (Microbial Induced Corrosion) also called biocorrosion and 2) to provide the European Community with new multidisciplinary expertise in the area of biocorrosion in order to develop more efficient knowledge-based solutions for the industry. The project was strongly oriented towards major industrial concerns and based on a “problem-oriented approach” from real field cases of biocorrosion from two major sectors: the oil & gas and energy industries. For this purpose, all the research topics were based on a common methodology called “from the field, through the lab, to the field” and divided into three different research sub-programmes: the oil and gas water injection and production structures (RSP1&2), the cooling circuits in power plants (RSP3) and the nuclear waste underground disposal (RSP4).

The consortium was composed of sixteen full and associated partners, seven of them were industrial companies. The overall research project was built with twelve individual research projects hosted by twelve research laboratories and gathering sixteen recruited young researchers and two international Visiting Scientists. The BIOCOR website (www.biocor.eu), launched on the 9th of May 2010, presents a project overview with the description of the consortium and their different activities, and a ‘publications’ part with abstracts and references for all the papers, posters and oral presentations given by the consortium.

In the case of the oil & gas industry (RSP1&2), biocorrosion is found in nearly all the systems: oil separation train, produced water systems, water injection systems and oil export systems. In this industry, carbon steel is one of the most extensively used materials for pipelines, for water injection systems and for other structures; this carbon steel is often in extended contact with water, making it prone to biocorrosion.

Among the outcomes of the research in this domain, we can cite the design and building of a fully equipped circulating loop for electrochemical measurements with retrievable coupons developed in order to improve decision support. Otherwise, in different laboratories, investigations on biocorrosion (electrochemical tests, mechanical tests, weight loss and surface analysis) and on determining microbial diversity were run using different field samples provided by industrial partners: pigging samples from cleaning operation, water samples and bio-coupons.