Zahra Khademmodaresi - Department of Chemical Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran- Department of Chemical Engineering, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran
Fereshteh Bakhtiari - Department of Chemical Engineering, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran
Mohammadmehdi Azizi - Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, the University of Texas at Arlington, USA

The microbial corrosion of reinforced concrete sewers was inhibited by synthesized cuprous oxide (Cu۲O) nanoparticles. The antibacterial characteristics of Cu۲O on Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans were investigated by temporal variation of pH, turbidity, and bacterial counting. Three reinforced concrete samples with different weight percentages of electrodeposited Cu۲O (۰.۰۶ wt%, ۰.۰۵۵ wt%, ۰.۰۵ wt%) were used. The bacterial counting showed that the number of bacteria in samples with ۰.۰۶, ۰.۰۵۵, and ۰.۰۵ wt% of Cu۲O was ۴.۸۲, ۴.۴۲, and ۲.۹۴ times lower than the blank sample (BS), respectively. After the bacterial growth, the optical density measurement showed that the percentage of turbidity enhancement for samples with ۰.۰۶, ۰.۰۵۵, and ۰.۰۵ wt% of Cu۲O were ۱۰۸%, ۱۱۸%, ۱۶۵%, respectively, while it was ۴۱۲% for the BS. Moreover, the pilot stage's pH monitoring revealed that the electrodeposited Cu۲O lowered the concentration of hydronium between ۷ to ۸۱ times compared to the BS. Experiments indicated that slight changes in the amount of electrodeposited Cu۲O lead to significant changes in samples' ability to hinder bacterial growth and microbial-induced corrosion.

Microbial corrosion, Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans, Concrete sewers, Synthesized cuprous oxide, Nanoparticles