Inhibitor Evaluations Using Various Corrosion Measurement Techniques in Laboratory Flow Loops

Abstract

Abstract The application of corrosion inhibitors for the corrosion control of carbon steel is a common practice in the oil and gas production environments. Successful corrosion control programs demand cost effective corrosion inhibitors with optimized performance. The corrosion inhibitors, which are formulated specifically for given field conditions, undergo rigorous qualification and performance evaluations at the laboratory before being submitted for a field application. In order to apply laboratory data to the field, the chemicals must be evaluated under simulated field conditions. In this study, the hydrodynamic parameter, wall shear stress value was utilized for the laboratory simulations. Chemical evaluations were conducted under simulated wall shear stress values in a pipe flow and a jet impingement. Both techniques provided similar results during the evaluation of a water soluble mixed corrosion inhibitor. During the evaluation of a water dispersible cationic inhibitor degradation of the performance was observed at relatively high shear conditions in the pipe flow. The jet impingement technique exhibited relatively poor performance of this chemical under low shear conditions. Furthermore, jet impingement technique provided additional information such as performance under extremely high shear conditions as well as whether a chemical is effective after an upset condition.