Richard B. Eckert
Principal, Owner
Microbial Corrosion Consulting, LLC
Commerce, Michigan
Presentation Topic: A Process for Using Multiple Lines of Evidence for More Reliable Corrosion Failure Analysis
Presentation Date: January 22, 2026
Co-Presenter: Torben Lund Skovhus, VIA University College
Meet Your Speaker:
Richard B. Eckert is the Principal Owner of Microbial Corrosion Consulting, LLC, has over 43 years of experience with oil and gas industry corrosion/failure investigations, internal corrosion and MIC assessment, mitigation and management; materials selection, forensic corrosion engineering, litigation support and regulatory compliance. He is the author of 4 books and over 50 publications on internal corrosion mitigation and monitoring, corrosion failure investigation and microbiologically influenced corrosion. Mr. Eckert is a NACE International certified Internal Corrosion Specialist, and AMPP Fellow. He previously served on the NACE Board of Directors and has chaired a number of technical committees that produced standards on corrosion management and internal MIC of pipelines. He is co-editor of “Failure Analysis of Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion” from 2021 (CRC Press) and is frequently lecturing and teaching on the topic of MIC.
Presentation Abstract:
There is an imperative need for a systematic and comprehensive process to analyze and integrate multiple lines of evidence (MLOE) for determining the causes of corrosion damage, particularly in the case of Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (MIC). The correct diagnosis of corrosion/MIC causes is essential, not only for identifying effective mitigation and prevention, but also as a pivotal step towards advancing materials sustainability and reducing carbon emissions. A structured methodology for corrosion failure analysis guided by the latest research findings, consensus standards, guidelines, models, and advanced analytical techniques will be presented in this talk. The primary categories of evidence employed in diagnosing corrosion include, 1) operation and design, 2) the chemical environment, 3) the microbiological environment, and 4) materials and corrosion products. Advances in molecular microbiological methods (MMM) have also improved the availability of diagnostic data. The relationships between data in these categories and their interconnectedness for characterizing corrosion mechanisms is also discussed. The outcome of this process yields a list of objective, science-based observations supporting specific abiotic and/or biotic corrosion mechanisms.
The talk with cover abiotic corrosion and Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (MIC) assessments. Accurate corrosion failure analysis is essential for identifying effective mitigation and prevention measures and preventing future failures, reducing operating risks and costs.
Who Should Attend: Oil and Gas companies, pipelines, regulators, corrosion control professionals, corrosion threat and risk assessment, those involved with failure investigations or root cause analysis of corrosion related problems