The new Institute for Corrosion and Multiphase Technology (ICMT) at Ohio University is the largest pipeline research facility in the world and the only one in the United States to study microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) inside large sections of pipeline, according to its founders.

Tingyue (Ting) Gu, assistant director of the ICMT, heads up the Institute's MIC research group, which is comprised of students and researchers whose collective understanding of the destructive micro-organisms has resulted in new detection methods.

"Through a better understanding of the complicated MIC mechanisms, we created the world’s first truly mechanistic model to predict MIC pitting," he says. "We are also working on green biocide enhancers that mitigate MIC problems."

A unique 20,000-square-foot facility, the ICMT is a maze of regulation-size pipelines in replicated real-life conditions where researchers and student engineers work to understand corrosion.