Patent ID: 8776623

Claim:
An in-situ sampling apparatus for microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) bacterium to be used in pipes, pipelines, or tanks to determine if the pipe, pipeline, or tank has the presence of MIC bacterium; wherein after sampling is accomplished, the apparatus is sent to a certified laboratory to determine, by standard testing procedures, if MIC bacterium are present, quantitatively or qualitatively; the apparatus has been designed to sample liquids (both hydrocarbon and aqueous), gas for planktonic bacterium and solids to determine sessilic bacterium; whereon the improvement is composed of three major components: a three-dimensional vessel, sterile absorbents coated with time dependent soluble coatings for increment sampling and a sterile matrix with or without coatings to obtain MIC bacterium and solids as the device travels through the phases contained within the pipe, pipeline, or tank.