An Overview: Highly Efficient Inhibitors of Carbon Steel

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Corrosion Engineering

Background:

• Corrosion of steel alloys causes significant economic losses, particularly in the oil industry.
• Corrosion inhibitors (CIs) are crucial for mitigating these losses in aqueous media.
• Effective CIs must function at low concentrations (ppm) under specific operational conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent advancements in corrosion inhibitors for steel alloys.
• To identify CIs with high inhibition efficiency (IE ≥ 90%) at low concentrations (< 100 ppm).
• To focus on CIs effective in HCl, H2SO4, and H2S corrosive media.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of corrosion control studies published in the last five years.
• Analysis of corrosion inhibition efficiency (IE) data.
• Evaluation of studies employing weight loss and electrochemical techniques.

Main Results:

• Identified several corrosion inhibitors demonstrating IE ≥ 90% at sub-100 ppm concentrations.
• Highlighted CIs effective in acidic (HCl, H2SO4) and sulfide-containing (H2S) environments.
• Confirmed the efficacy of weight loss and electrochemical methods in assessing CI performance.

Conclusions:

• Recent research offers promising corrosion inhibitors for steel alloys.
• Low-concentration, high-efficiency CIs are vital for industrial applications.
• Further research should focus on developing CIs for specific harsh environments.