Abstract
The association between optimum concentration of film-forming corrosion inhibitor and the presence of micellar particles in solution has been widely published over the last thirty years. Formation of a saturated molecular film of active surfactant on the target surface has been found to coincide with the formation of surfactant droplets (micelles) in solution at the Critical Micelle Concentration (CMC). Following the initial investigations described at Corrosion 2011, this paper reports on development of a micelle detection instrument which identifies individual particles in a flowing stream using a combination of light scatter and fluorescence marker measurements. Development of criteria for interpreting a sample for the presence of micelles will be reported along with the results of a simulated field study in a flow loop, using real-time electrochemical corrosion probes to investigate the link between inhibitor micelle presence and corrosion rate. Together with results from the analysis of real field samples this data will be presented in the context of developing a new tool for simple and rapid field analysis of brines for minimising corrosion and chemical-related process upsets.
