Microbiologically induced deterioration of concrete: a review

Microbiologically induced deterioration (MID) causes corrosion of concrete by producing acids (in-cluding organic and inorganic acids) that degrade concrete components and thus compromise the in-tegrity of sewer pipelines and other structures, creating significant problems worldwide. Understand-ing of the fundamental corrosion process and the causal agents will help us develop an appropriate strategy to minimize the costs in repairs. This review presents how microorganisms induce the deteri-oration of concrete, including the organisms involved and their colonization and succession on con-crete, the microbial deterioration mechanism, the approaches of studying MID and safeguards against concrete biodeterioration. In addition, the uninvestigated research area of MID is also pro-posed. Key words: microbial deterioration, concrete corrosion, biogenic sulfuric acid