Interest in corrosion mitigation utilizing renewable and biodegradable raw materials is quickly on the rise. A number of plant materials as corrosion inhibitor have been reported. In many cases, however, preparation of corrosion inhibitor from these source materials is laborious so the industrial scale application is difficult. The work reported here utilizes industrial available bio-based materials. Bio-based aromatic acids, such as vanillic acid, ferulic acid, cinnamic acid, and mandelic acid, were studied for their potential as industrial corrosion inhibitors in vapor phase, in various water-based electrolytes, and in vapor/electrolyte inter phase. Simple preparations of these bio-based aromatic acids demonstrated that some of these materials possess ability of vapor phase corrosion inhibition (VCI). Some preparations of the bio-based acids showed potential as additive for mild steel protection in immersion or partial immersion applications in water-based electrolytes. Synergistic combination of different preparations showed superior performance than individual material.
