Sour gas wells frequently co-produce elemental sulfur which can cause catastrophic corrosion of mild steel. As producing wells become increasingly sour, the incidence of sulfur corrosion will likely increase. Despite the severity of this problem, limited mechanistic information about this process exists in the literature. The objective of this study is investigation of the corrosion mechanism involving elemental sulfur.

Building on the knowledge found in open literature, sulfur hydrolysis and the sulfur/iron reaction mechanisms were both studied in this work. It was found that a sulfur hydrolysis reaction does occur during elemental sulfur corrosion, but does not appear to be dominant. Experimental results confirmed that a sulfur/iron electrochemical reaction is the main mechanism of elemental sulfur corrosion.

Subject
Hydrogen sulfide, Sulfur, Steel surfaces, Water, Acidity, Experimental data, Meshes, Steel, Hydrolysis, Elemental sulfur, Carbon, Corrosion mechanisms, Samples
Keywords:
elemental sulfur corrosion, hydrolysis, electrochemical reaction
© 2011 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
2011
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
You do not currently have access to this content.