Understanding and controlling hydrogen sulfide (H2S) corrosion becomes increasingly important in the petroleum industry. Iron sulfide is formed on the internal pipeline surface as a corrosion product of carbon steel in an environment containing H2S. Some of the iron sulfide particles are suspended in the liquid phase or deposited at the bottom of a pipeline. Iron sulfide decreases the corrosion inhibition efficiency due to the adsorption of corrosion inhibitor on the surface of iron sulfide particles.

The objectives of this study are to investigate the effect of iron sulfide on the efficiency of a corrosion inhibitor in a highly sour environment and to explore effective technical methodologies to study H2S corrosion and inhibition. Experiments were performed in a series of autoclaves with a total pressure of 896 kPa (538 kPa CO2, 290 kPa H2S, and 69 kPa water vapor). Iron sulfide effects were studied separately in two different cases: directly deposited on the steel surface or suspended in the test solution. In the experiments, weight loss was applied to study the corrosion inhibition efficiency. Corrosion product films/scales formed on the surface of the steel were analyzed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX).

Subject
Scanning electron microscopy, Hydrogen sulfide, Steel surfaces, Cylinders, Iron sulfide films, Corrosion rate, Metal surfaces, Iron sulfides, Autoclaves, Corrosion products, Corrosion inhibitors, Powders, Deposit corrosion
Keywords:
Iron sulfide, H2S Corrosion, highly sour environment, efficiency, corrosion inhibitor, adsorption, Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS)
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2012
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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