Electrochemical study of corrosion behaviour

of carbon steel A106 and stainless steel 304

in aqueous monoethanolamine
Y. Sun, J. E. Remias, J. K. Neathery and K. Liu*
Corrosion behaviour of carbon steel A106 and stainless steel 304 (SS304) in aqueous
monoethanolamine was studied by performing electrochemical polarisation experiments.
Potentiodynamic curves were studied and compared under conditions with different tempera-
tures, carbon loading and O2 percentage in purging gases. It was found that corrosion of A106
and SS304 was promoted under conditions with higher temperature. While the presence of O2
speeds the corrosion of A106, it has a negligible impact on SS304 at 80uC and lowers the
Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd

corrosion rate at 40uC. Corrosion rates and other important parameters were calculated based on
the electrochemical curves for A106. Sample surfaces after tests were examined by scanning
electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. Mechanisms involved in iron
dissolution and passivation from oxide films were discussed.
Keywords: CO2 capture, Aqueous monoethanolamine, Steel corrosion, CO2 loading, Potentiodynamic curve, Tafel analysis

Introduction velocity (achieved through the rotation speed of

In recent years, great effort has been placed on
developing and implementing CO2 capture processes
due to the concern about global climate change caused
by anthropogenic emissions such as CO2. For many
applications and particularly for existing fossil fuel fired
power plants, post-combustion capture is the most logi-
cal and cost efficient method to reduce CO2 emissions
per megawatt electricity generated. Among a variety of
methods for post-combustion CO2 capture, aqueous
amine solvents are considered the most promising me-
thod due to its history in gas purification.1–3 Among
those amine solvents, monoethanolamine (MEA), a
primary amine, is the most common and well studied
with the Department of Energy using the Fluor’s com-
mercial Econamine FGz process as the basis for
baseline cost of post-combustion CO2 capture.4
Amine treating plants have always experienced
corrosion problems.5,6 Corrosion problems not only
increase maintenance costs but also enhance personnel
safety risks caused by vessel or other equipment failure.
Despite some work regarding corrosion in aqueous
MEA,7,8 literature in this area is still lacking. Veawab
et al. at University of Regina performed extensive
research on carbon steel corrosion for CO2 capture.
For example, polarisation behaviour of carbon steel
1018 has been studied in aqueous MEA environment.
In their study, effects of solution temperature, solution
Center for Applied Energy Research, University of Kentucky, 2540
Research Park Drive, Lexington, KY 40511-8410, USA
*Corresponding author, email liu@caer.uky.edu
sample), CO2 loading in solution and MEA concentra-
tion on carbon steel corrosion were investigated.7 Their
work also covered the topics of corrosion inhibitors
and heat stable salts.9 Different amounts of corrosion
inhibitors, mainly organic inhibitors, and heat stable
salts, which were thought to be the products of solvent
degradation, were added into MEA and electrochemi-
cal tests were conducted. The effects of various types of
heat stable salts on corrosion of carbon steel 1018 and
stainless steel 304 (SS304) were studied.8,10 In all these
investigations, the electrochemical polarisation experi-
ments were performed for the purpose of calculating
corrosion rates and analysing corrosion mechanism.
Although some work on steel corrosion in aqueous
MEA environment has been performed, they mainly
focus on carbon steel 1018 or 1020. Carbon steel A106,
on the other hand, has been widely used in areas such as
nuclear power plants and chemical plants, and has the
potential of being used in the post-combustion CO2
capture process;11,12 however, its corrosion properties in
CO2 process environments are not fully understood
despite current use in the amine process. Stainless steel
304 is one of the most widely used stainless steels and
could be employed in the corrosive post-combustion
CO2 capture process necessitating the understanding
of its corrosion behaviour in aqueous MEA. Moreover,
while most studies have focused on electrochemical
techniques, there have been few results reported about
the traditional immersion method to test the steel co-
rrosion in MEA–H2O–CO2 system, i.e. submerse cou-
pons in representative solution and measure weight loss
and thickness changes along with analysis of coupon
microstructure and surface changes.

ß 2011 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining

Published by Maney on behalf of the Institute
Received 14 June 2010; accepted 10 September 2011
724 Corrosion Engineering, Science and Technology 2011 VOL 46 NO 6 DOI 10.1179/1743278210Y.0000000001

1 Schematic of electrochemical apparatus in accordance with ASTM G5
Furthermore, corrosion protection information can
also be collected from electrochemical experiments. For
example, the passive potential range can be obtained
from anodic polarisation curves. While some metals are
passivated under certain natural circumstances without
Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd
external aid, for example, iron in nitric acid above a
critical concentration,13 others require an external
applied potential/current density to provide anodic
protection. Knowing the passive region allows one to
raise the metal potential to that region using an external
source for corrosion control.
In the present study, electrochemical tests and
immersion coupon tests on carbon steel A106 and
SS304 are reported. The effects of solution temperature,
CO2 loading in MEA and O2 percentage in the sparging
gases on steel corrosion were investigated. Corrosion
rate based on electrochemical curves and thickness
change after submersion in solution was calculated.
Microstructure and surface changes were investigated
using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy
dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) for various samples in the
study.
Experimental
An electrochemical corrosion unit with standard three
electrode cell was used for the electrochemical set-up
with a saturated calomel electrode (SCE) as the
reference electrode and two connected graphite rods as
the counter electrode. The apparatus (Fig. 1) used in this
study was purchased from Advanced Measurement
Technology, Inc. (Oak Ridge, TN, USA). It includes
a 273A potentiostat/galvanostat and a corrosion cell kit
(K0047). The data were acquired and analysed by a
software program (PowerCORR) from the same com-
pany. Potentiodynamic polarisation technique was used
during scan and Tafel analysis was used to determine
the corrosion rate. Scan rate used in the study was
0?166 mV s21. All electrochemical experiments were
carried out under static condition, i.e. no stirring during
tests. The data in this work represent results from single
run experiments.
Carbon steel A106 and SS304 tested in this study were
purchased from Alabama Specialty Products, Inc.
(Munford, AL, USA). Their compositions, shown in
Table 1, were provided by the manufacturer. Electro-
chemical specimens were machined to cylinders with
dimensions of 9?5 mm in diameter and 12?8 mm in
height. The specimens were ground using 600 grit silicon
Corrosion Engineering, Science and Technology
Sun et al. Corrosion behaviour of carbon steel A106 and SS304
carbide grinding papers (Buehler, Lake Bluff, IL, USA)
in accordance with the ASTM standard G5. After
grinding, the actual dimensions of each specimen were
measured by a digital caliper and the surface areas were
calculated. The specimens were then rinsed by ethanol
(American Chemical Society reagent grade, 100%) and
deionised water, dried with nitrogen and stored in a
desiccator until use.
Monoethanolamine solutions were 5 mol L21 (M)
which is considered as a leading solvent candidate for
application to existing coal fired power plant CO2
capture in the Department of Energy baseline study.4
The solutions were preloaded with CO2 by sparging it
for a certain amount of time to make CO2 loading a of
0?2 and 0?5 mol/mol MEA, simulating the carbon lean
solution from stripper and carbon rich solution from
scrubber respectively. These carbon loading numbers
were selected based on the field experience currently
used in gas treating plants and a few post-combustion
CO2 capture processes. Two temperature conditions, 40
and 80uC, were used by heating the solutions using a
water bath (NESLAB-EX 35; Thermo Scientific,
Newington, NH, USA). The temperature of 40uC was
chosen to simulate scrubber operation condition while
80uC was selected to simulate the cross-over heat
exchanger operating condition. Because the electroche-
mical cell can only be operated at ambient pressure, a
temperature close to stripper operating conditions (120–
130uC) is very difficult to maintain. Effect of O2
percentage was studied by sparging simulating flue gas
during the experiments with various O2 ratios. First, 5M
MEA was sparged with CO2 for a certain time to achieve
desired carbon loading. Then, the solution was sparged
with N2 at 0?32 L min21 for 1 h for the 0%O2 test. For
the 6%O2 test, mixed air and N2 were sparged below the
Table 1 Elemental compositions of test specimens
Composition, %
Elements A106 SS304
C 0.28 0.054
Mn 0.83 1.76
P 0.018 0.027
S 0.018 0.029
Si 0.27 0.32
Cr … 18.33
Ni … 9.15
Mo … 0.32
2011 VOL 46 NO 6 725
 Sun et al. Corrosion behaviour of carbon steel A106 and SS304

liquid surface for 2 h before test. During the 6%O2

experiment, O2–N2 mixture was purged overhead the
liquid surface. Table 2 summarises the test parameters.
In addition to electrochemical tests, traditional
immersion corrosion tests of carbon steel A106 and
SS304 coupons were conducted by submerging them in
5M MEA solution under the condition of CO2 loading
of 0?5 at 80uC with 6%O2 in purging gases. The
immersion tests were performed in a pressure vessel as
depicted in Fig. 2. Coupons were placed inside the vessel
in a manner following ASTM G4-95. After 100 h
testing, coupons were taken out of the test vessel and
their thickness was measured. For microstructure
observation, coupons were cut by a Buehler’s IsoMet
low speed saw, and were then mounted with epoxy.
Grinding and polishing of mounted samples were
performed with a Buehler’s EcoMet 300 grinder/
polisher. Grinding started with 320 grit grinding papers 2 Schematic of immersion test apparatus
followed by 600, 800 and 1200 grits grinding papers.
Ground samples were polished thereafter with polishing
it promotes the high concentration of metal cations
cloth TexMet with 3 mm Al2O3 suspension and followed
necessary for nucleation and growth of the protective
by MicroCloth with 0?05 mm Al2O3 suspension. After
Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd

each step, the samples were rinsed thoroughly to avoid layer. Therefore, the critical current density reflects the
coarse particles contaminating subsequent steps. difficulty of forming protective layers. The lower the icrit,
Coupon thickness was measured at the same position the easier the metal starts the transition from the active
before and after each test using an ultrasonic thickness state to the passive state. After the target was polarised
measurement device using an average of two measure- to potential values within the passive region, less passive
ments. Corrosion rate of carbon steels was calculated current density ipass (Fig. 3 for 40uC) is needed to
based on the thickness change data, i.e. pretest thickness maintain its protective layer. The icrit (marked in Fig. 3
minus post-test thickness divided by time spent. Cross- for 40uC) at 80uC is much higher than that at 40uC.
sectional SEM images and EDS mapping at the same Generally, during passivation, a metal oxide film with
positions of oxidation layers were taken for each type of 2–10 nm thickness is formed on the metal surface.14 This
coupon. layer of oxide forms a barrier between the metal and the
environment, which retards the anodic dissolution
process. Figure 3 also illustrates that ipass, roughly
Results and discussion within the potential range between 500 and 2500 mV,
Effect of temperature increased considerably when temperature increased. ipass
Carbon steel A106 in the passive region is actually the measurement of
dissolution of tested metal through the passive film. So
Samples were tested at two temperatures, 40 and 80uC,
the passive film of A106 at 40uC is more resistant to
to simulate absorber and cross-over heat exchanger
metal dissolution than at 80uC.
conditions in CO2 capture processes. The corrosion rate
It is also noticed that ipass at 40uC is very stable and
of carbon steel A106 increases at higher temperature
remains almost unchanged, with the current density only
because both anodic and cathodic reactions proceed
faster due to the fact that species have higher thermal
energy at 80uC. It results in higher corrosion current
density and therefore higher corrosion rate at 80uC
compared to 40uC.
Figure 3 shows the effect of temperature on polarisa-
tion behaviour of carbon steel A106 in MEA solution.
In the active region, from 2880 to 2770 mV, the current
density at 80uC is overall much higher than that at 40uC,
indicating a higher iron dissolution rate. This is reflected
in the higher calculated corrosion rate of 0?53 versus
0?04 mmpy (Table 3). The critical current density to
initiate passivity icrit is an important parameter for
anodic protection because it determines the current
density needed to produce the passive film. Specifically,

Table 2 Test conditions used in this study

Parameter Condition

O2 percentage, % 0 and 6 3 Potentiodynamic curves of carbon steel A106 in 5M

CO2 loading (mol/mol solution) 0.2 and 0.5 MEA at different temperatures in the absence of O2:
Solution temperature, uC 40 and 80 a50?2; electrochemical cell was scanned from 21?2 to
Pressure Ambient z1?0 V vs. SCE

726 Corrosion Engineering, Science and Technology 2011 VOL 46 NO 6

 Sun et al. Corrosion behaviour of carbon steel A106 and SS304

4 Potentiodynamic curves of SS304 in 5M MEA with CO2 loading of a 0?2 and b 0?5 at different temperatures: in both
cases, there is no O2 in purging gases

increasing 2?7 mA in the potential range from 2419 to Effect of O2 percentage

Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd

z544 mV before the breakdown potential Eb, measured
at 544 mV. While at 80uC, it decreases 35?6 mA in the
potential range from 2461 to z456 mV. The nearly
vertical line for ipass at 40uC indicates that the metal
dissolution proceeds with a low constant rate because of
passive film formation. The structure type of passive film
at 40 and 80uC should be the same, although composition
may vary due to different ion activities at those two
temperatures. The passive film at 80uC is further
characterised as less effective due to higher fluctuations
of current density in the passive region. Other facts that
confirmed the better protection of the passive film at 40uC
include its higher breakdown potential, 544 versus
456 mV, and wider span of the passive region, 46 mV
more, which indicates that it is more difficult for the metal
to enter the transpassive region at 40uC. When the applied
potential is higher than Eb, the current density increases
abruptly due to the breakdown of protective film.
Stainless steel 304
Figure 4 shows the effect of temperature on SS304 in
lean (Fig. 4a) and rich (Fig. 4b) MEA solution. In both
cases at high temperature, SS304 corrodes faster because
molecules have higher thermal energy. Both anodic and
cathodic reactions are expedited, which is supported by
the observation of higher current density at 80uC. It is
also noticed that the curve at 40uC has a wider span of
passive region than at 80uC, which indicates that it is
easier to keep the metal within the passive region and
more difficult to enter the transpassive region at 40uC
for the metal protection purpose.
Table 3 Summary of electrochemical parameters and corrosion rate of carbon steel A106 in MEA–H2O–CO2 systems
Carbon steel A106
As illustrated in Fig. 5, the anodic polarisation curves
overlapped very well in the active region except for the
curve with 6%O2 extended to higher icrit. The higher icrit
of A106 with O2 indicates that the presence of O2
promotes the MEA corrosiveness to the carbon steel.
The overlap indicated that the two curves had similar
anodic slopes ba. ba is the slope of the anodic reaction
curves in polarisation diagrams and is a constant for a
certain reaction. The anodic slopes are almost the same
(Table 3) under 0 and 6%O2, suggesting that there is no
change of the iron dissolution mechanism. The passiva-
tion region of the polarisation curves for 0 and 6%O2
barely changed. In the passive region, the current
density is generally higher when O2 is purged. Con-
sequently, iron enters the passive region more easily and
the current density is more stable without O2.
It can be seen that, from Table 3, raising the O2
percentage results in an increase in corrosion current
density icorr at high temperature, and therefore a
higher corrosion rate. The increase in corrosion rate is
believed due to an enhancement in the oxidiser
concentration in the solution.7 One of main reduction
reactions in MEA–H2O–CO2 systems is reduction of
dissolved O215
2H2 OzO2 z4e{ ' 4OH{ (1)
The increase in O2 concentration facilitates the
reduction reaction of dissolved O2, which in turn
allows a greater rate of iron dissolution

CO2 loading, Temperature, icorr, Ecorr, Corrosion ba, mV/ icrit, ipass,
No. mol/mol MEA uC O2% mA mV(SCE) rate, mmpy decade mA cm22 mA cm22 Eb, mV

1 0.2 40 0 18.2 2885.3 0.04 146.8 218.7 20.9 544

2 0.2 40 6 9.3 2860.7 0.02 60.2 219.5 20.7 490
3 0.2 80 0 227.2 2880.3 0.53 99.5 2281.7 21.5 456
4 0.2 80 6 279.8 2876.7 0.65 100.6 2343.3 22.1 540
5 0.5 40 0 79.1 2810.1 0.18 … 218.3 21.9 715
6 0.5 40 6 20.6 2772.6 0.06 62.2 224.1 21.6 709
7 0.5 80 0 359.1 2853.3 0.83 110.2 2778.9 23.4 623
8 0.5 80 6 458.8 2859.4 1.06 129.0 22335.2 23.3 577

Corrosion Engineering, Science and Technology 2011 VOL 46 NO 6 727

 Sun et al. Corrosion behaviour of carbon steel A106 and SS304
5 Effect of O2 percentage in purging gas on polarisation
behaviour of A106 in MEA (a50?5) at 80uC
Fe ' Fe2z z2e{
Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd
The effect of O2 on corrosion rate at 40uC, however, is
negligible, which is consistent with former report.7
Stainless steel 304
Figure 6 shows the effect of O2 on corrosion behaviour
of SS304 in rich carbon loading MEA at 80uC (Fig. 6a)
and 40uC (Fig. 6b). From Fig. 6a, O2 has no measurable
effect on the corrosion of SS304 under this condition.
While at 40uC, introducing O2 into purging gases
changed the character of the curve: Ecorr shifted from
y800 to y500 mV. The calculated corrosion rate
indicates a significant decrease with 6%O2 compared
with 0%O2. However, the shift in the curve most likely is
a result of the higher contribution from reaction (1)
which causes the measured Ecorr and icorr values to
deviate from what would be measured purely as a result
of hydrogen reduction and metal oxidation.16
Effect of CO2 loading
To compensate for the CO2 loading decrease in solution
due to gas feed and solution heating, 2 and 20% CO2 were
introduced in gas feeds for tests with a50?5 MEA at 40
and 80uC respectively. These numbers were chosen
according to CO2 partial pressure of MEA solutions
6 Effect of O2 percentage in purging gas on polarisation behaviour of SS304 in MEA (a50?5) at a 80uC and b 40uC
728 Corrosion Engineering, Science and Technology 2011
with different conditions. The CO2 loading in MEA
changed less than 1% after tests when compensated CO2
was introduced in feed gases. According to Jou et al.17
and Dugas et al.,18 the CO2 partial pressures of MEA
solution with 0?5 mol CO2 per mol MEA are y20 000
and 2000 Pa at 80 and 40uC respectively. For CO2
loading of 0?2 mol/mol MEA, the CO2 partial pressures
are both below 500 Pa at 40 and 80uC, which accounts for
less than 0?5% of an atmosphere. Therefore, no make-up
CO2 was used for low carbon loading solutions.
Carbon steel A106
The effect of CO2 loading in solution was presented in
Fig. 7. Results in Fig. 7 show that the polarisation curve
with a50?5 shifts towards the right with higher
measured current density at both 40 and 80uC. The
current density of the curves is the total cell current
density, which was contributed by both the anodic and
the cathodic currents. Therefore, higher iron dissolution
and cathodic reduction rate with higher CO2 loading can
be expected. This indicated that the carbon steel
(2) corrodes faster with higher CO2 loading. From
Table 3, it can be seen that the corrosion rate increases
from 0?02 to 0?06 mmpy and 0?53 to 0?83 mmpy when
CO2 loading is raised from 0?2 to 0?5 at 40 and 80uC
respectively (rows 2 and 6; rows 3 and 7).
The increase in corrosion rate in rich MEA solution is
due to the raising oxidiser concentration. Bicarbonate
ion is a primary oxidising agent in aqueous amine–CO2
systems15 and the reduction of bicarbonate ion is in
equation (3)
2HCO{ { 2{
3 z2e ' CO3 zH2 ðgÞ (3)
According to Veawab and Aroonwilas, HCO{ 3 plays a
significant role in corrosion due to its high rate of
reduction while H3Oz contributes less in corrosion
because of its extremely low concentration in amine
solutions.15 Higher CO2 loading results in an increase in
oxidiser HCO{ 3 concentration considering the basic
environment of MEA. The enhancement of cathodic
reactions in turn results in the expedition of anodic
reaction of corrosion, i.e. metal dissolution.
For corrosion control consideration, the passive film in
the solution having 0?5 mol carbon per mol MEA formed
at a higher primary passivation potential (Epp in Fig. 7a)
compared to that in lean MEA and broke down at a
VOL 46 NO 6
 Sun et al. Corrosion behaviour of carbon steel A106 and SS304

7 Effect of CO2 loading on polarisation behaviour of carbon steel A106 in 5 mol/mol MEA with a 6%O2 at 40uC and
b 0%O2 at 80uC

higher potential as well. The current density in the passive current density to maintain passivation. Under this
Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd

region ipass indicated by the vertical arrow in Fig. 7a
reflects the velocity of metal dissolution through the
passivation film. The smaller ipass in lean MEA (a50?2)
suggests that the protective film under this condition has
better performance to prevent corrosion, although
current density dropped with potential increase. The
phenomenon that the current density of a50?2 curve
increased in the passive region as the applied potential
became more positive indicates that the sample dissolu-
tion rate increased. According to Ahmad14 and Stansbury
and Buchanan,16 the oxide film thickness increases with
increasing applied potential in the passive potential range.
In ideal cases, where the current density remained
constant in the passive range, a steady dissolution by
transport of iron ions into solution through the passive
film occurs. The inclination of current density in Fig. 7a
indicated that iron dissolution intensified slightly as the
potential went nobler. The fluctuation of the curve after
the initiation of passivation for a50?5 (black circle)
reflects a competition between the dissolution and
accumulation of the passive film. From a corrosion
control aspect, A106 in a50?2 MEA requires a lower
condition it requires a more negative potential to enter
the passive region (about 2500 versus 2200 mV).
Stainless steel 304
Figure 8 shows the effect of CO2 loading on SS304
corrosion behaviour in MEA solution. Figure 8a illus-
trates potentiodynamic curves at 40uC while curves at
80uC are shown in Fig. 8b. It was observed that
elevating the carbon loading did not change the
characters of the potentiodynamic curves for both
temperature conditions, i.e. the curves display similar
features. Instead, the curve at 40uC merely shifted
towards nobler direction with higher carbon loading.
This vertical shifting does not alter the corrosion rate
calculation; however, the lower Epp makes stainless steel
cathodic protection easier in lean solutions. At 80uC, the
curve was observed to move not only upwards but also
slightly to higher current density area. This difference
indicates that CO2 loading at 40uC has less impact on
stainless steel corrosion than at 80uC. Even at high
temperature, the effect of carbon loading is generally
insignificant on stainless steel compared with carbon

a at 40uC with 6%O2 in purging gases; b at 80uC without O2 in purging gases

8 Potentiodynamic curves of SS304 in 5M MEA showing effect of CO2 loading on its corrosion behaviour

Corrosion Engineering, Science and Technology 2011 VOL 46 NO 6 729

 Sun et al. Corrosion behaviour of carbon steel A106 and SS304
9 Images (SEM) of carbon steel A106 sample surface a ground with 600 grit grinding paper and b after electrochemical
test at 80uC
Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd
10 Image (SEM) image of carbon steel A106 surface after
submersion in 5M MEA (a50?5) for 100 h at 80uC:
inset shows higher magnification of area
steels. The potentiodynamic curves of SS304 display no
apparent active region under the tested conditions,
especially at 80uC.19 In other words, the self-passive
behaviour was reinforced at high temperature.
Compared to carbon steel, SS304 showed a relatively
short active region, after which passivation occurred
resulting in current density decrease. From a qualitative
analysis, SS304 corroded slower than A106 under same
11 Image (SEM) of cross-sectional view of SS304 surface and its EDS mappings after 100 h test in 5M MEA at 80uC
730 Corrosion Engineering, Science and Technology 2011
conditions tested in this work. While increasing tem-
perature does enhance SS304 corrosion, carbon loading
of MEA has little effect on its corrosion rate although
the potentiodynamic curve shifted to nobler direction.
At 40uC, introducing oxygen to SS304 results in
contribution of simultaneous cathodic reactions of
hydrogen ion reduction and oxygen reduction which
resulted in a low calculated corrosion rate.
Traditional immersion corrosion tests
Figure 9 shows SEM images of an A106 sample surface
before and after an electrochemical test in MEA at 80uC.
It is seen that after the electrochemical test, the scratches
from grinding were less apparent and, in some places,
grain boundaries can be observed. Energy dispersive
spectroscopy results of sample surfaces show that after
the electrochemical test, carbon content increased while
iron content decreased. After the 100 h immersion test,
the corrosion rate of A106 based on thickness decrease
was calculated to be 0?9¡0?1 mmpy, which is consistent
with the electrochemical results (Table 3, row 8).
Figure 10 shows SEM images of A106 surface after the
100 h submersion in MEA. Considerable amounts of C
and O were found on this sample, which indicated that
the sample was severely corroded. The inset shows a
higher magnification image of the area, where corroded
surface can be clearly seen. For SS304, a gain in coupon
thickness occurred due to metal oxidation, which is a
VOL 46 NO 6

typical early stage behaviour of stainless steel in corrosion
environments.20 The oxidation caused weight increase in
coupons. Figure 11 presents cross-sectional view SEM
images and corresponding EDS mappings of a SS304
coupon after 100 h exposure in 5M MEA. An oxidation
layer can be seen on the sample surface with about 10 mm
thickness from the SEM image in Fig. 11. Energy
dispersive spectroscopy mappings show that the oxida-
tion layer contains a considerable amount of iron.
Oxygen content is higher than the base material area
confirming that it is an oxidation layer formed on the
material surface. Very little Cr and Ni were found in this
layer. This is consistent with former reports that the
outside oxide layer formed on stainless steel is iron
oxide,20,21 possibly followed by a Cr or Ni rich interlayer.
Conclusions
Electrochemical polarisation behaviour of carbon steel
A106 and SS304 in aqueous MEA was studied by
varying parameters of temperature, CO2 loading in
solution and O2 percentage. It was found that corrosion
Published by Maney Publishing (c) IOM Communications Ltd
of A106 was intensified as temperature was increased
because both anodic and cathodic reactions proceed
faster. Raising the O2 percentage in sparging gases
promoted the corrosion rate of carbon steel A106 due to
the increasing oxidiser concentration in the solution. A
greater CO2 loading in solution results in a higher
corrosion potential Ecorr and current density, thus,
leading to a higher corrosion rate.
For SS304, increasing temperature speeds up its
corrosion. Introducing O2 in purging gases does not
have an effect on corrosion behaviour at 80uC, while it
results in a lower corrosion rate at 40uC. CO2 loading
did not have as much effect on its corrosion behaviour
as on A106. CO2 loading played a more significant role
in SS304 corrosion at high temperature, while compared
to carbon steel, this effect is still insignificant.
Immersion tests were performed by submerging A106
and SS304 coupons in 5M MEA with 0?5 mol/mol MEA
carbon loading at 80uC. Corrosion rate of A106 from
the immersion coupon test was 0?9¡0?1 mmpy, which is
consistent with the electrochemical data. Stainless steel
304 formed an oxidation layer on coupon surface after
100 h immersion test.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the Carbon Management
Research Group (CMRG) members, including Big
Rivers Electric Corporation, Duke Energy, E.ON US,
East Kentucky Power Cooperative, Electric Power
Research Institute (EPRI), Illinois Clean Coal Institute
(ICCI), Kentucky Department of Energy Development
and Independence (KY-DEDI), and Kentucky Power
(AEP) for their financial support.
Corrosion Engineering, Science and Technology
Sun et al. Corrosion behaviour of carbon steel A106 and SS304
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