Cement and Concrete Composites 68 (2016) 88e95

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Cement and Concrete Composites

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cemconcomp

Effects of surface washing on the mitigation of concrete corrosion

under sewer conditions
Xiaoyan Sun, Guangming Jiang*, Tsz Ho Chiu, Mi Zhou, Jurg Keller, Philip L. Bond
Advanced Water Management Centre, Gehrmann Building, Research Road, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study systematically investigated the potential of mitigating sulfide induced sewer concrete
Received 31 July 2015 corrosion by surface washing. Washing interrupted the corrosion activity of concrete coupons by
Received in revised form increasing the surface pH and decreasing the H2S uptake rates (SUR). The SUR recovered to the level prior
25 November 2015
to washing within 60e140 days. The slowest recovery rate was from the most severely corroded coupon.
Accepted 10 February 2016
However, no significant difference was observed for concrete mass loss of the washed and unwashed
Available online 18 February 2016
coupons after 54 months. The results suggest that frequent washing at short intervals of a few months
might be needed to control corrosion over a long term.
Keywords:
Sewer
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Concrete
Corrosion control
Sulfide
Washing

1. Introduction
Urban sewer networks collect and transport domestic and in-
dustrial wastewater (sewage) to centralized facilities for treatment
prior to discharge of the treated effluent into receiving waters. In
industrialised countries, the establishment of sewer networks has
been achieved through continuous public investment for more
than a century. However, the deterioration of sewer concrete pipes,
caused by sulfide induced concrete corrosion, is a major economic
and infrastructure burden in many countries [1]. It shortens the
service life of sewer pipes and results in expensive replacement of
prematurely failed structures. For example, the estimated corrosion
caused cost in wastewater catchment infrastructure per year is
around $20 billion in the USA [1]. As such, the development of
effective technologies to mitigate corrosion is imperative for
extending the service life of sewer pipes and reducing the huge
annual maintenance expense.
Sulfide is produced within the anaerobic regions of the sewer,
Abbreviations: BSE, Backscattered electron; MLA, Mineral Liberation Analyzer;
SEM, Scanning electron microscopy; SOB, Sulfide oxidizing bacteria; SUR, Sulfide
uptake rate.
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: x.sun@awmc.uq.edu.au (X. Sun), g.jiang@awmc.uq.edu.au
(G. Jiang), tsz.chiu@uqconnect.edu.au (T.H. Chiu), mi.zhou2@uq.net.au (M. Zhou),
j.keller@awmc.uq.edu.au (J. Keller), phil.bond@awmc.uq.edu.au (P.L. Bond).
mainly in the fully filled pressure pipes [2,3]. During the pumping
of sewage from a pressure pipe to a gravity pipe, the sulfide is
partially released into the sewer atmosphere of the gravity pipe [4].
In the presence of oxygen, gaseous H2S is taken up by the moist
concrete surface exposed to gas phase and there it is oxidized to
sulfate and other sulfur species by sulfur oxidizing bacteria (SOB)
[5,6]. The acid formed during sulfide oxidation will react with
alkaline compounds in the concrete and form corrosion products
[7]. This process causes decreased concrete surface pH (from 12e13
to below 1e2), loss of concrete mass, cracking and weakened sewer
structure [6,8]. A corrosion layer develops on the concrete surface
that is largely gypsum, this has a soft texture and can be several mm
in thickness. Severe corrosion will eventually result in the struc-
tural collapse of the sewer network.
To achieve effective corrosion control, various technologies have
been developed. These technologies mitigate the corrosion through
either preventing the build up of sulfide in the liquid phase or by
preventing the concrete surface from H2S attack [9e14]. In partic-
ular, one treatment is to directly remove the corrosion layer by
washing the concrete surface. This is considered a cost efficient
approach and hence is of great interest to water utilities [15].
However, surprisingly there has been no comprehensive evaluation
on the effectiveness of surface washing for the purpose of miti-
gating concrete corrosion.
Currently, there is disagreement on whether the formed con-
crete corrosion layer accelerates or slows the corrosion process

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2016.02.013
0958-9465/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 X. Sun et al. / Cement and Concrete Composites 68 (2016) 88e95
[16e18]. It is proposed that the thick corrosion layer acts as a bar-
rier that slows the sulfuric acid attack onto the intact concrete
surface, and consequently it is suggested that the removal of the
corrosion layer would accelerate the corrosion activity [16,18]. In
contrast it is argued that the flushing of the concrete pipe with
sewage removes the corrosion layer and this disturbs and removes
the low pH environment of the sulfur oxidizing bacteria [15,17,19].
Therefore, there are contradictory theories of the effect that surface
washing may have on the corrosion processes and it is not clear
whether washing would mitigate the corrosion activity.
It is indicated that gentle flushing is not a successful control
measure. Two early studies flushed concrete samples with waste-
water for a few seconds and repeated it 1e3 times daily or weekly
[15,19]. This immediately increased the concrete surface pH,
although, this returned to its low level found prior to flushing, in a
few hours. Likely the gentle flushing only removed soluble com-
ponents (e.g. acid) but not the corrosion layer containing the acid-
generating microbes. They measured the surface pH and indirectly
measured the corrosion rates from the polarization resistance. It
was postulated that heavy and frequent washing is necessary to
effectively reduce corrosion rates (in terms of producing high sur-
face pH) [15,19]. A more recent study washed concrete pipes using a
hose and a brush, but this only temporarily reduced the corrosion
activity (measured as sulfide oxidation rate). In just 10 days the
sulfide oxidizing rate was seen to increase and by 30e40 days this
had reached the pre-washing level [20]. In this study the bioactive
layer would have been removed from concrete surface, although
the effect on corrosion activity was only measured through the
sulfide oxidation rates [20]. A comprehensive and systematic study
evaluating the effect of high pressure washing on the concrete
surface pH, sulfide oxidation rate and concrete loss in the long term
is required to delineate the overall impacts of surface washing for
mitigating sewer corrosion.
The aim of this study was to assess the effectivity of high
pressure washing on controlling corrosion of concrete in corrosive
sewer environment. To simulate the concrete exposure condition in
real sewers, concrete coupons were exposed to the gas phase of
laboratory chambers with controlled levels of relative humidity,
temperature and H2S concentration. After being exposed in the
chamber for specified periods, the coupons with various corrosion
levels were washed using a high pressure washer with water. The
sulfide oxidation activities of the coupons were measured and
concrete losses of washed and unwashed concrete coupons were
compared in a long term study of over 4.5 years. The experiment
enabled a comprehensive understanding and evaluation of the ef-
fect of washing on corrosion control.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Concrete coupons
Two types of concrete coupons, i.e. fresh and pre-corroded
concrete coupons, were prepared and established into the labora-
tory corrosion chambers as described [6]. To briefly explain, the
fresh concrete coupons were cut from a newly manufactured spun
cast standard reinforced concrete sewer pipe, which has 1.2 m in-
ternal diameter and a standard strength of load class 2 (HUMES,
Australia). The concrete had a minimum of 400 kg m 3 cementi-
tious content and 45e50% aggregate content by volume. The
standard sewer pipes are suitable for most sewer systems. The pre-
corroded concrete coupons were cut from reinforced concrete that
previously served as a sewer wall for 70 years from Sydney Water
Corporation, Australia. The dimensions of each coupon were
approximately 100 mm (length)  70 mm (width)  70 mm
(thickness). After cutting, the coupons were washed in fresh water
89
and then dried at 60  C for 3 days to achieve similar and stable
initial water content.
The internal surface of the sewer pipe, was designed as the
coupon surface to be exposed to H2S. After cutting, the coupons
were embedded in epoxy (FGI R180 epoxy & H180 hardener) in
specially designed stainless steel frames. Each frame containing
one fresh and one pre-corroded coupon and forms a concrete
coupon pair (Fig. 2). The stainless steel frame provided a reference
point for determining the change in thickness due to corrosion. The
coupons were exposed to the gas phase of corrosion chambers as
described in Section 2.2.
2.2. Corrosion chambers and exposure conditions
Four identical corrosion chambers were constructed of glass
panels of 4 mm thickness to achieve a controlled environment
simulating that of real sewers and the detailed description is made
elsewhere [6,21]. Briefly, the dimensions of the chambers were
550 mm (length)  450 mm (width)  250 mm (height). The
conditions in the chambers were controlled at four H2S levels (i.e.
5 ppm, 10 ppm, 25 ppm and 50 ppm) with the gas-phase temper-
atures at about 25  C and the relative humidity level at 100%. Each
chamber contained 2.5 L domestic sewage (characteristics of
sewage was reported in Table S1 in Supplementary Information)
collected from a local sewer pumping station which was replaced
every fortnight. Coupons were exposed to the gas phase of the
chambers with the exposure surface facing downwards about
110 mm above the sewage. This arrangement simulates the crown
area of sewer pipe, a region that is highly susceptible to corrosion
[16].
To control the H2S gaseous concentrations inside the chamber at
the specified level, Na2S solution was pumped (Bio-chem fluidics,
model: 120SP2440-4TV) into a plastic container partially filled with
hydrochloric acid (16%). The H2S concentrations were monitored
using a H2S gas detector (OdaLog Type 2, App-Tek International Pty
Ltd, Brendale, Australia) with a range between 0 and 200 ppm. A
programmable logic controller was applied to monitor the H2S
concentration and to trigger the pump for Na2S addition to main-
tain the H2S concentration at the specified level. The chambers
were stored in a cabinet and the temperature of the sewage was
controlled by recirculating temperature controlled water through
glass tubes submerged in the sewage. Through this way, the relative
humidity was controlled at 100% for all the chambers.
2.3. A test to monitor the corrosion recovery after high pressure
washing
This test investigated the recovery of corrosion activity of
corroding concrete coupons after the high pressure washing. The
coupons used were from the 5 ppm (F5 and P5, namely the fresh
and pre-corroded coupon respectively) and 50 ppm (F50 and P50,
namely the fresh and pre-corroded coupon respectively) H2S level
chambers exposed to 100% relative humidity and 25  C for 45
months. In this test the H2S uptake rate (SUR, a previously proven
indicator of corrosion activity [22]), sulfur species in the corrosion
layers and surface pH were measured (see details in Section 2.5).
The washing was carried out on the coupon exposure surface
using a high pressure washer (Karcher K 5.20 M, 12 MPa). Each
coupon surface was washed by 4e8 L of deionized water. H2S up-
take tests and surface pH measurements were carried out imme-
diately before and after the high pressure washing, as described in
Section 2.5.1 and 2.5.2, respectively. The washed coupons were
returned to the original exposure chamber for re-exposure. This
was followed by weekly measurements of SUR for 1e4 weeks, and
monthly measurements of SUR for 1e6 months untill the H2S
90 X. Sun et al. / Cement and Concrete Composites 68 (2016) 88e95
uptake rate recovered to the pre-washing levels. Both elemental
sulfur and sulfate on the fresh coupon surface were determined
whereas only sulfate on the pre-corroded coupon was determined
as the level of elemental sulfur was insignificant according to
previous study by Jiang et al. [6] and preliminary analysis (see
Section 2.5.3).
2.4. A test to determine the concrete loss of washed and unwashed
coupons
This test measured the actual concrete loss of 28 coupons
(Figs. S1 and S2 in Supplementary Information) from two corrosion
chambers at different gaseous H2S concentrations, i.e. 10 ppm and
25 ppm after 54 months of exposure. There were 7 sets of coupons
in each chamber (i.e. 7 fresh and 7 pre-corroded coupons). Each
coupon set, No. 1e6 were subjected to one high-pressure washing
event during the exposure period in the chambers, this occurring
after 6, 12, 18, 24, 34, and 44 months exposure respectively. After
the wash the coupon sets were returned to their respective corro-
sion chambers for the remainder of the exposure period. Then after
54 months exposure in the chambers all coupon sets were removed
and subjected to the high pressure washing and the coupon con-
crete loss was determined as described in Section 2.5.4. Coupon
surface pH before and immediately after washing was determined
as described in Section 2.5.2.
2.5. Analytical methods
2.5.1. H2S uptake rate (SUR)
Coupon pairs were retrieved from the corrosion chambers for
the SUR measurements. Each fresh and pre-corroded coupon of the
coupon pair was sealed in the two separated compartments of the
H2S uptake reactor, with the gas phase environment controlled at
100% relative humidity and temperature of 25  C as previously
described [22]. To measure the SUR of a coupon at its historical
exposure H2S concentration in the corrosion chamber, gaseous H2S
was injected into each compartment to about 10e12 ppm higher
than historical exposure H2S level. The changes of H2S level inside
the compartment were monitored. The obtained H2S uptake pro-
files were used to calculate the SUR of coupon at the historical
exposure H2S level as described previously [22]. The SUR of each
coupon was determined as the average of 3e5 repeated
measurements.
2.5.2. Surface pH
The coupon surface pH was measured using a flat surface pH
electrode (Extech PH150-C concrete pH kit, Extech Instruments,
USA). The pH meter was allowed to obtain a steady reading of the
coupon surface after being wetted by 1 ml of milliQ water. Four
independent measurements were carried out on four randomly
selected spots to calculate the average value.
2.5.3. Sulfur species
For sulfate measurement of fresh coupons, a known surface area
of the fresh coupon was scraped using a clean scalpel blade. The
sample was dispersed into sulfide anti-oxidant buffer solution [23].
For pre-corroded coupons, the wash-off water was homogenized
using a magnetic mixer for 2 h and then subsamples were taken
into the sulfide antioxidant buffer solution. The prepared solutions
were transferred into air-tight vials for the measurement of sulfate
using a Dionex ICS-2000 IC with an AD25 absorbance (230 nm) and
a DS6 heated conductivity detector (35  C).
The analysis of elemental sulfur was based on converting
elemental sulfur to thiosulfate at high pH [24]. A known surface
area was scraped from the fresh coupon using a clean scalpel blade.
Soluble sulfur species were removed through mixing the sample
with Milli-Q water in a 10 ml vial, centrifugation for 10 min at 10,
000 rpm, and removal of the supernatant. The obtained pellet was
washed 3 times with Milli-Q water. The pellet was resuspended in
10 ml of water mixed with 1.5 ml of Na2SO3 and 0.15 ml of 1 M
NaOH, and then incubated in an orbital shaker (120 rpm) overnight
at 60  C for the conversion of elemental sulfur to thiosulfate. After
incubation, samples were cooled to room temperature and centri-
fuged at 10, 000 rpm for 10 min. The thiosulfate concentration of
the supernatant was measured by ion chromatography (the same
method as shown in the previous paragraph) and this value was
used to calculate the concentration of elemental sulfur according to
the reaction stoichiometry.
2.5.4. Concrete loss
Five photos of each coupon surface prior to exposure in the
corrosion chamber and after high pressure washing were taken to
determine the concrete loss using photogrammetry [25]. The
photogrammetry generates a 3D image of the exposed coupon
surface and from that the average surface height of the coupon
relative to the stainless steel frame was determined. The decrease
of coupon thickness due to corrosion was then calculated by sub-
tracting the surface height after washing from the surface height
prior to exposure. This technique provides an accurate change in
coupon thickness be determined irrespective of the surface
roughness. Additionally, it also provides a detailed record of the
spatial distribution of the losses that occurred.
2.5.5. Mineral analysis
To determine the bulk composition of concrete, advanced
mineral analysis was performed on the thin sections prepared from
both fresh and pre-corroded concrete coupons.
For each concrete coupon, a thin section was prepared by cutting
through the coupon at 45 at a sample preparation lab operated by
Petrographic International Pty Ltd (Australia) [26]. Cutting was
performed at the exposure surface to obtain a section of
2 cm  2 cm. Then, the sections were ground using a fixed diamond
lap to the thickness of about 2 mm, and further ground using 3 mm
diamond slurry (with an aliphatic hydrocarbon base as a suspen-
sion media) on ceramic lap, and 1 mm diamond on a textile cloth.
The prepared sections were then coated with a layer of carbon
approximately 25 nm thick, using a JEOL JEE-420 vacuum evapo-
rator. The thickness of carbon was determined by a copper
standard.
The advanced mineral analysis was performed on the prepared
concrete sections using Mineral Liberation Analyzer (MLA) [26].
MLA is an automated scanning electron microscopy (SEM)-based
mineralogical characterization tool. It uses a combination of back-
scattered electron (BSE) intensity and X-ray analysis to identify
minerals or phases present in particles of the prepared concrete
section. During measurement the BSE image is typically used to
identify individual particles and define the boundaries of mineral
phases, an X-ray is then obtained from each of the segmented
phases which is then used during offline processing to identify the
mineral or phase based on its chemical composition. In cases where
phases cannot be separated by BSE gray levels, X-ray mapping at an
accelerating voltage of 25 kv can be used. The output from a
measurement includes the sample BSE image, a false-tool classified
particle map and a database which contains particle and grain
based data (Fig. S3).
 X. Sun et al. / Cement and Concrete Composites 68 (2016) 88e95
Fig. 1. The MLA mapping of major (i.e. percentage of weight higher than 0.3%) mineral compounds identified on the fresh (A) and pre-corroded (B) concrete sections.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Concrete composition
The MLA mapping results from one section of fresh coupon and
one section of pre-corroded coupon are presented in Fig. 1A and B,
respectively. The distribution of major mineral compounds on the
surface of the concrete sections was determined. Then, the weight
percentages of the mineral compounds on the surface of the section
were determined.
Quartz, representing the area of aggregates and sand particles,
accounts for around 57.3% and 47.8% of the fresh and pre-corroded
concrete, respectively. The second most abundant mineral on both
the fresh and pre-corroded concrete was calcium silicate (i.e. the
primary hydrated cement), at about 13.1% and 22.2%, respectively.
The rest major compounds are other calcium/iron/potassium
aluminum silicate (e.g. amphibole, orthoclase, and plagioclase),
which are also cement hydration products. The results suggest that
the major mineral compounds of the pre-corroded and fresh
coupon were similar, with comparable abundance of these com-
ponents. In addition, there is clear difference between the parts
near the exposure surface and the intact parts of the pre-corroded
concrete section (Fig. 1B) whereas there is no such difference on the
fresh concrete section (Fig. 1A). The pre-corroded coupon was
found to be corroded with the presence of corrosion products, such
as gypsum (at the weight percentage of ~1.8%) and ettringite (at the
weight percentage of ~3.3%), around the exposure surface area
(Fig. 1B). This implies that significant sulfide induced corrosion
occurred in the pre-corroded coupon but no obvious corrosion
occurred in the fresh coupon.
3.2. Recovery of corrosion activity after high pressure washing
3.2.1. Visual inspection
Visual comparison of the concrete coupons before and after the
high pressure washing was performed (Fig. 2). It was evident there
was limited corrosion on the coupons exposed at 5 ppm H2S. In
contrast, a porous and whitish layer of corrosion product was
evident on the coupons exposed at 50 ppm H2S. This layer was soft
and loosely bound material with little mechanical strength, which
is most likely the corrosion products, mainly gypsum and ettringite,
formed through the reactions between sulfuric acid and alkaline
compounds in the concrete [7]. For both the 5 ppm exposed
91
coupons (F5 and P5), washing caused no obvious change to the
surface by visual inspection. However, washing removed a signifi-
cant corrosion layer from the 50 ppm coupons, especially from the
pre-corroded coupon. In addition, after washing away of the sur-
face corrosion layer, there were still remaining solidified corrosion
layer on the surface of coupon P5, F50 and P50 (Fig. 2C and D). This
is similar to a previous study showing that washing only removed
the loosely bound corrosion products from the concrete pipe [20].
The yellowish and brownish color of this remaining layer after
washing is likely due to the formation of elemental sulfur or iron
rust [26].
3.2.2. Surface pH and sulfur species
Before exposure in the corrosion chambers, the fresh and pre-
corroded coupon surface pH was about 10.6 and 8.0 respectively.
The surface pH of the 5 ppm and 50 ppm H2S exposed, fresh and
pre-corroded coupons, clearly indicates that the four coupons were
at different stages of corrosion (Fig. 3). F5 was still at a very early
stage of corrosion, with a slight surface pH neutralisation, which is
likely caused through acidification by CO2 and H2S [8]. Low levels of
sulfur species were detected on the F5 coupon surface (Table 1).
Coupons P5 and F50 were likely at an intermediate stage of
corrosion, where biological acid production (e.g. sulfate at the
levels of 20e120 g m 2 shown in Table 1) occurred to lower the
surface pH to 4e5 [27,28]. Subsequently, coupon P50 was at an
advanced stage of corrosion with pH at around 2, suggesting that
acidophilic microorganisms were well established and prevalent on
the coupon [29]. On this coupon the biogenic sulfuric acid produced
here (the measured sulfate concentration was 282.9 g m 2, as
shown in Table 1) would react actively with cementitious materials
of the concrete causing formation of the observed corrosion layer
(Fig. 2B).
The surface pH of the coupons increased by various extents after
washing (Fig. 3). The rise of surface pH caused by washing was
more obvious on the 50 ppm exposed coupons than on the 5 ppm
coupons. For the 50 ppm coupons, the surface pH increased by 2.9
and 2.0 units on the fresh and pre-corroded concrete, respectively.
The change for 5 ppm exposed coupons was only around 0.2 for
both the fresh and pre-corroded concrete. This difference was due
to the higher level of corrosion occurring on the 50 ppm coupons,
and this acidic corrosion layer having a greater difference in pH to
that of the concrete surface measured after washing. It is shown in
corrosion layers that the pH increases abruptly from the surface of
92 X. Sun et al. / Cement and Concrete Composites 68 (2016) 88e95

Fig. 2. Photos of a 5 ppm (A&C) and a 50 ppm (B&D) H2S exposed concrete coupon set before and after the high pressure washing. Each coupon set consists of a fresh (the left side)
and a pre-corroded (the right side) concrete coupon.

12 increased the surface pH from below 1 to levels below 3. Similar

Before washing After washing results were obtained by Islander, Devinny [19]. However, a rapid
10 (i.e. within a few hours) re-establishment of low pH environment
was found in both cases probably due to the continuous acid pro-
8 duction by sulfide oxidizing bacteria.
Surface pH

6
3.2.3. Sulfide uptake activity
4
The sulfide uptake rates were determined before (SURb) and
after (SURr) washing the coupons (Fig. 4A). For all concrete cou-
2
pons, the SUR decreased immediately after washing probably due
to the loss of SOB and thus decrease of the microbial sulfide
0
oxidizing activity. The remained SUR after washing is likely driven
F5 P5 F50 P50 by chemical sulfide oxidation and the residual microbial catalyzed
sulfide oxidation. The largest decrease of SUR, measured immedi-
Fig. 3. Surface pH of coupon F5, P5, F50 and P50 (F and P indicate fresh and pre- ately after the high pressure washing, was about 60% on the P50
corroded coupon, respectively, 5 and 50 indicate the exposure H2S concentration
(ppm)) before the high-pressure washing and immediately after that. Each error bar
coupon. The smallest such decrease of about 35% occurred for the
represents the standard deviation of four measurements on each concrete coupon F50 coupon. The larger decrease of SUR, measured on the more
surface. severely corroded P50 coupon, was probably due to the higher

Table 1
Sulfur species measured on surface of coupons exposed to 5 and 50 ppm of H2S.

H2S exposure level (ppm) Fresh coupons Pre-corroded coupons

S0 (g m 2
) SO24 (g m 2
) S0 (g m 2
) SO24 (g m 2
)

5 7.3 4.9 NA 119.4

50 27.6 22.8 NA 282.9

the corrosion layer to the concrete surface after washing. The
concrete surface pH of these four coupons after washing varied
between 5 and 10 (Fig. 3). Obviously, in our study the high pressure
washing did not completely strip off the corrosion layer as the
measured pH was still below that of intact concrete, and this agrees
with the observation of remained corrosion layer on concrete sur-
face after washing (Fig. 2C and D).
The increase of pH after washing is consistent with the findings
reported previously [15,19,26]. In the study reported by Mansfeld,
Shih [15], concrete samples were set up in a corrosion chamber of a
local sewer to monitor the effect of periodic flushing on the surface
pH. Flushing the severely corroded concrete for 8 s using sewage
degree of SOB activity on that corrosion layer prior to washing. The
decrease of SUR for the F50 coupon, albeit smaller, indicates a
poorer removal of the corrosion layer, as we detected visually
(Fig. 2). The decrease immediately after washing was positively
correlated to the pre-washing corrosion levels.
For the 5 ppm exposed coupons, the SUR of F5 recovered to
prewashing levels (recovery ratio 1) after 59 days, which is 25
days shorter than the recovery of P5 (Fig. 4). The difference be-
tween the full recovery time for F50 and P50 was 65 days, with F50
reaching full recovery within 70 days. The recovery of SUR was
most likely due to the re-growth of sulfide oxidizing bacteria. The
quick recovery for F50 again possibly indicates the incomplete

1.5
A
Recovery ratio (SURr/SURb)
1.0
0.5
F5 P5 F50
0.0
0 30 60 90 120
Time (day)
150
B However, a slight decrease in concrete loss caused by the high
120
Full recovery time (day)
90
60
30
0 levels. The full recovery of sulfide uptake was fairly quick on the
F5 P5 F50
Fig. 4. Recovery ratio (SURb and SURr indicate the SUR of coupon prior to and after
washing, respectively) of the coupon F5, P5, F50 and P50 (F and P indicate fresh and
pre-corroded coupon, respectively, 5 and 50 indicate the H2S concentration (ppm) in
exposure chamber) after the high pressure washing is shown in Figure A and the full
SUR recovery time of the four concrete coupons after washing is shown in Figure B.
removal of the corrosion layer. Overall, it is clear that the recovery
period was positively correlated to the pre-washing corrosion
levels, i.e. the higher the pre-washing corrosion extent, the longer
the full recovery period after the washing treatment.
The SUR recovery of the corroded coupons of our study were
slower than those in a study which observed full recovery in 30e40
days [20]. The previous study intermittently supplied gaseous H2S
up to 1000 ppmv to the corroded concrete pipe (surface pH below
1e2), which is much higher than typical H2S levels in real sewers.
Our study used gaseous H2S concentrations of up to 50 ppm, which
is much more representative of sewer conditions. Also, we used
deionized water to avoid unwanted interference from the washing
liquid. In contrast, the previous study using sewage would likely
add nutrients and trace minerals to residual bacteria on the con-
crete surface. Consequently, the lower recovery rates observed in
this study could be due to both the lower H2S levels used for
exposure and the different washing methods.
3.3. Long term concrete loss of washed coupons after re-exposure
The effect of washing on the concrete loss during the long term
exposure to corrosive sewer conditions was determined (Fig. 5A
and B). After a total exposure period of 54 months, the corrosion
layer was clearly observed on the surface of the coupons
(Fig. S1&S2 in Supplementary Information). For the fresh coupons
exposed to both 10 ppm and 25 ppm H2S, the average concrete
losses from the washed coupons (coupons numbered 1e6) after 54
months were limited, i.e. 0.86 ± 0.16 mm and 0.64 ± 0.18 mm,
respectively (Fig. 5A). Also, there was no significant difference of
concrete loss between the washed (No. 1e6) and the non-washed
X. Sun et al. / Cement and Concrete Composites 68 (2016) 88e95 93
(No. 7) fresh coupons (Fig. 5A). The concrete loss of the pre-
corroded coupons after the 54 months of H2S exposure was
determined (Fig. 5B). The average concrete loss for the high pres-
sure washed pre-corroded coupons (numbered 1e6) was
3.33 ± 0.65 mm and 5.92 ± 0.67 mm for the 10 ppm and 25 ppm H2S
exposure concentrations respectively. The unwashed pre-corroded
coupons had concrete losses of 2.85 mm and 6.67 mm for the
10 ppm and 25 ppm H2S exposure conditions respectively. These
losses were almost within the 95% confidence ranges, i.e.
2.81e3.84 mm and 5.39e6.46 mm, for the washed pre-corroded
P50 SURb coupons exposed to 10 ppm and 25 ppm gaseous H2S concentra-
tions, respectively. It is thus concluded that the high pressure
150 180 washing did not cause significant differences to the concrete loss
from the fresh coupons at both levels of H2S exposure and from the
pre-corroded sewer concrete exposed to 10 ppm H2S (P < 0.05).
pressure washing was observed on the 25 ppm H2S exposed, pre-
corroded coupons. These results were also supported by the
similar surface pH detected on the washed and non-washed cou-
pons for both the fresh and pre-corroded concrete (Fig. 5C and D).
3.4. Potential mechanisms of corrosion mitigation by surface
washing
Our results demonstrated that high pressure washing reduced
the H2S uptake activity of the coupons that had a range of corrosion
P50
fresh concrete, around 60e80 days, whereas the full recovery took
over 4 months for the severely corroded pre-corroded concrete (i.e.
coupon P50). Therefore, in the short term (i.e. at the magnitude of
month), the high pressure washing was possibly more effective to
control the corrosion on the more heavily corroded concrete.
However, the washing did not result in significant changes of
concrete loss over the long-term exposure period of 4.5 years.
Frequent washing at short intervals every few months might be
needed to mitigate the corrosion over a long term.
Undoubtedly, the high pressure washing removes the corrosion
layer containing corrosion products (e.g. gypsum and ettringite),
SOB and acid formed through chemical and biological sulfide
oxidation. The loss of SOB would cause decrease of the microbially
induced H2S uptake by the concrete and hence decrease of the
concrete SUR, as was detected (Fig. 4). Meanwhile, the removal of
the corrosion layer would eliminate the barrier for acid attack and
hence facilitate the penetration of acid, that could be produced by
chemical sulfide oxidation and the residual SOB catalyzed sulfide
oxidation, towards the inner intact concrete. Consequently,
washing may pose positive and negative effects on the SUR and acid
penetration of corroding sewer concrete. However, these effects
were negated in this study, thus, having no overall effect on the
long term concrete loss.
During the re-exposure of coupons in the corrosion chambers
after washing, the SUR gradually recovered and the thickness of the
corrosion layer gradually increased. However, increasing corrosion
development is not expected to accompany with an infinite in-
crease of SUR. On a thick corrosion layer sulfide oxidation would be
limited to certain regions within the layer depending on the
diffusion gradients of dissolved oxygen and H2S and the distribu-
tion of SOB. Additionally, extremely low pH resulting from the acid
production within the corrosion layer would in turn inhibit the
activity of SOB [20,27,30]. Likely, an increasing corrosion thickness
would increase the barrier for acid diffusion to the corrosion front.
Then within the layer, the diffusion rate would limit the overall
corrosion rate, as this is generally much lower than the neutralizing
reactions at the corrosion front [31]. Thus, a semi-stable corrosion
rate will be achieved eventually [32]. Overall, the washing only
94 X. Sun et al. / Cement and Concrete Composites 68 (2016) 88e95

1.5 10 ppm 10
A B

Concrete loss (mm)

Concrete loss (mm)
25 ppm
1.2 Average 10 ppm 8
Average 25 ppm
0.9 6

0.6 4

0.3 2

0.0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Coupon No. Coupon No.
7 7
6 C 6 D
5 5

Surface pH
Surface pH

4 4
3 3
2 2
1 1
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Coupon No. Coupon No.

Fig. 5. Concrete loss from the fresh (A) and pre-corroded coupons (B) exposed to H2S at 10 ppm and 25 ppm for 54 months and the corresponding surface pH of the fresh (C) and
pre-corroded (D) coupons after 54 months of exposure. Coupons numbered 1 to 6 were subjected to one high-pressure washing event during the exposure period, this occurring
after 6, 12, 18, 24, 34, and 44 months exposure respectively. Coupons numbered 7 received no washing during the exposure period. Average concrete losses were calculated from
those measured on coupons 1 to 6. Each error bar represents the standard deviation of four pH measurements on each coupon surface.

affects the redevelopment of the corrosion layer, which may only
take some months.
4. Conclusions
This study investigated the effect of high pressure washing on
the corrosion activity of sewer concrete and the main conclusions
are:
 High pressure washing increased the coupon surface pH and
decreased the SUR. The highest increase of pH and largest
decrease of SUR occurred on the coupons with themost severe
levels of corrosion.
 The SUR recovered to the level prior to washing within 60-140
days. The slowest recovery was observed on the coupons with
the most severe corrosion.
 Washing did not cause significant difference of the concrete loss
over the long-termexposure in sewer conditions of 4.5 years.
Acknowledgments
We acknowledge the Australia Research Council and many
partners from the Australian water industry for funding the Sewer
Corrosion and Odour Research (SCORe) Project (LP0882016). Ms
Xiaoyan Sun acknowledges the University of Queensland and the
Chinese Research Council for funding the Tuition Fee International
Scholarship and the Living Allowance Scholarship. Dr Guangming
Jiang is the recipient of a Queensland State Government's Early
Career Accelerate Fellowship.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data related to this article can be found at http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2016.02.013.
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