NACE TM0194 (AMPP)

The technical standard NACE TM0194 is among the oldest technical standards in the industry, with the aim to guide you through the process of biological monitoring of pipelines and upstream production in general.

This standard focuses on field test methods that are useful for estimating bacterial populations, including sessile bacterial populations, commonly found in oilfield systems. The described test methods are those that can be done on site and that require a minimum of laboratory equipment or supplies. This standard is intended to be used by technical field and service personnel, including those who do not necessarily have extensive or specific training in microbiology. However, because microbiology is a specialized field, some pertinent and specific technical information and explanation are provided to the user.

The first version of this standard was published in 1994 and the latest revision was published in 2012. The standard describes the test protocols for culturing based techniques for both sessile and planktonic samples.

It should be noted that the described technologies within this standard are considered to be somewhat outdated. This does not automatically imply that techniques such as culturing should be considered worthless. There are commercial high quality culturing kits available that have proven their worth. One of the most common mentioned disadvantages of culture based methods, is that not every group of micro-organisms can be cultured in a commercial test kit. Especially the groups of methanogens have proven to be difficult to cultivate in commercial kits. This makes this method less preferred as a tool to assess these type of organisms if they are expected to contribute to your microbial issues.

There have been a huge amount of developments, enhancing technical possibilities, that are not captured in this outdated standard. Also, there are several other standards surrounding biological measurements to estimate and mitigate microbial risks. The the last revision of the TM0194 goes back to 2014. At that time it took quite some efforts to update this standard. And is the original scope of this standard still valid?

AMPP (former NACE) is planning to revise this standard. Would you be willing to participate in the committee? Let us know: connect@corrosionalliance.com

Read the last progress update.