Microbial colonization on the titanium condenser material (TCM) used in the cooling system leads to biofouling and corrosion and influences the water supply. The primary investigation of the titanium condenser was infrequently studied on characterizing biofilm-forming bacterial communities. Different treatment methods like electropotential charge, ultrasonication, and copper coating of titanium condenser material may influence the microbial population over the surface of the titanium condensers. The present study aimed to catalog the primary colonizers and the effect of different treatment methods on the microbial community. CFU (1.7 × 109 CFU/mL) and ATP count (< 5000 × 10-7 relative luminescence units) showed a minimal microbial population in copper-coated surface biofilm as compared with the other treatments. Live and dead cell result also showed consistency with colony count. The biofilm sample on the copper-coated surface showed an increased dead cell count and decreased live cells. In the metagenomic approach, the microbiome coverage was 10.06 Mb in samples derived from copper-coated TCM than in other treated samples (electropotential charge-17.94 Mb; ultrasonication-20.01 Mb), including control (10.18 Mb). Firmicutes preponderate the communities in the biofilm samples, and Proteobacteria stand next in the population in all the treated condenser materials. At the genus level, Lactobacillaceae and Azospirillaceae dominated the biofilm community. The metagenome data suggested that the attached community is different from those biofilm samples based on the environment that influences the bacterial community. The outcome of the present study depicts that copper coating was effective against biofouling and corrosion resistance of titanium condenser material for designing long-term durability.

Corrosion Science and Technology Division Metallurgy and Materials Group Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research Kalpakkam Tamil Nadu India

Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud Universidad Técnica de Manabí Portoviejo Manabí Ecuador

Department of Botany Mahatma Gandhi Central University Motihari 845401 Bihar India

Microbiology Team CavinKare Research Center 12 Poonamallee Road Ekkattuthangal Chennai 600032 India

Molecular Genetics Laboratory Department of Genetic Engineering School of Bioengineering Faculty of Engineering and Technology SRM Institute of Science and Technology Kattankulathur 603203 Chengalpattu Tamil Nadu India

SRM DBT Platform for Advanced Life Science Technologies SRM Institute of Science and Technology Kattankulathur 603203 Chengalpattu Tamil Nadu India

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