Advances in Materials and Corrosion 3 (2014) 17- 19

Advances in Materials and Corrosion

journal homepage: www.jchemacta.com

A review of green corrosion inhibitors from plant extracts of various metal in

different medium.
S.Jothilakshmia , K.Umab, Rekhab
a
RMD Engineering College, RSM Nagar, Kavaraipettai, Chennai 601206, Tamil Nadu, India.
b
Central Prathyusha Institute of Technology and Management, Aranvayalkuppam, Chennai 601206, Tamil Nadu, India.

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Article history: Corrosion is a natural spontaneous phenomenon which is in evitable but can be controlled. One
Received 3 January 2014 of the methods of control is adding inhibitor to the corrosive medium. As result of extensive
Received in revised form 27 January 2014 research towards green technology quite significant numbers of green inhibitors from plant
Accepted 31 January 2014 extract are evolved in recent years. In this paper a detailed study is carried out on the natural
Available online 31 January 2014 plant extracts, which is the emerging field due to the toxicity of conventionally used inhibitors.
Keywords: A novel promising list of green corrosion inhibitors of various metal in different medium are
Corrosion inhibition discussed.
Plant extract
Alkaline solution © 2014 Advances in Materials and Corrosion
Acid solution.

altitude of around 5000-6000 ft above sea level. These plants are

1. Introduction
One of the most practical methods for protection against
excessive dissolution of metals by corrosion is use of proper
inhibitors [1].Corrosion inhibitors are substances which when
added in small concentration to corrosive media decrease or
prevent the reaction of the metal with the media. [2].In recent
days investigation have been made into the inhibiting properties
of natural products of plant origin and have been found to exhibit
good inhibition efficiency[3-17].The advantage of the usage of
natural products are environmentally friendly and ecologically
acceptable. The usage of synthetic organic inhibitors produces
hazardous effects, so more focus on the usage of natural products
which is cheap, non – toxic and eco friendly in nature. Extracts of
naturally occurring products contain mixtures of compounds
having nitrogen and sulphur as constituent atoms were studied as
corrosion inhibitor in acidic medium [18, 19].The use of organic
compounds containing oxygen, sulphur and nitrogen to reduce
attack on steel has been studied in some details [20-25] In the
present review the inhibiting properties of extracts of phyllanthus
amarus and zenthoxylum alatum medium are examined.
Phyllanthus amarus is a plant that belongs to euphorbiraceae
is distributed widely in tropical and sub tropical countries. The
plant is found mostly in Philippines, Cuba and Nigeria.
Zenthoxylum-alatum, a dicot family plant generally found at an
mostly found in Himalayan region.
2. Results and discussion
2.1 Phyllanthus amarus plant extract in acidic medium (PAE)
The weight loss for mild steel in 2M HCl and 2M H2 SO4
containing different concentrations of leaves of P.amarus extracts
as a function of time was noted. The results showed that weight
losses increases with increase in time but decreases with increase
in concentration of P.amarus extracts. Similar trends were
obtained for the seeds and mixture (combination of leaves and
seed extract). The decrease in weight loss is due to the inhibitive
effects of P.amarus and these effects increases with increase in
P.amarus extract concentration. From the weight loss the
corrosion rates (CR) were calculated.
CR = WL/ At
Where WL is the weight loss in mg, A is the specimen surface
area (of 20 cm2) and t the immersion period in hours. The
corrosion rates decreased with the increase in P.amarus extract
concentration indicating that P.amarus extract inhibits the
corrosion of mild steel in both 2M HCl and 2M H2 SO4 and it
examined that the corrosion rates in HCl solutions is lower than
that in H2 SO4 .From weight loss , the inhibition efficiencies
(%I) for the corrosion of mild steel in 2M HCl and 2M H2 SO4
containing different concentration of PAE were calculated using

* Corresponding author: e-mail: jothilakshmi22@yahoo.com

© 2014 Advances in Materials and Corrosion

ISSN: 2314-7067, Jabir Ibn Hayyan Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved
18 Jothilakshmi et al. / Adv. Mater. Corros. 3 (2014) 17-19

%I = (CRblank – CR inh)/CR blank *100 Table 1: The corrosion rate, inhibition efficiency and surface
coverage (θ)of Phyllanthus amarus in basic medium
Where CRblank and CRinh are the corrosion rate in the absence and
Concentration Corrosion Inhibition Surface
in the presence of PAE , respectively.
(%v/v) rate (mm/yr) efficiency coverage
(%I) (θ)
2.2 Inhibition Mechanism
The observed corrosion inhibition of mild steel in H2 SO4 0 943±10 - -
solution with increase in PAE concentration can be explained by
5 322±8 66±2.4 0.66
the adsorption of the components of the PAE on the metal
surface. According to the mechanism for the anodic dissolution
8 312±12 67±4.5 0.67
of Fe in acidic sulphate solutions proposed initially by Bockris
et.al. [26], Fe electro-dissolution in acidic sulphate solution 10 289±9 69±4.1 0.69
depends primarily on the adsorbed intermediate FeOH ads as
follows: 12 256±7 73±5.0 0.73
Fe + OH → FeOH ads + H++e-
FeOH ads → FeOH + + e- 15 248±11 74±5.2 0.74
FeOH + + H+ →Fe2+ + H20
The cathodic hydrogen evolution follows the steps 20 229±10 76±6.8 0.76
Fe+H+→ (FeH+) ads
(FeH+) ads +e → (FeH) ads
(FeH) ads + H+ + e →Fe+H2
Studies on the photochemical constituents of PAE shows that it The inhibition efficiencies increases with increase in extract
contains saponins, tannins, oxalates, alkaloids, carbohydrates concentration and reaches a maximum value of 76% with
fiber, protein. High saponin and tannin, carbohydrates and fiber 20%(v/v) of extract. This indicates that the organic compound of
contents explain its use in folk medicine for treatment of liver the extract are adsorbed onto the aluminum surface resulting in
problems, oedema and its use as corrosion inhibitors [27]. blocking of reaction sites and protects the aluminum from attack
Saponins are complex compounds that consist of one or more of aggressive OH- ion from the alkaline solution. The corrosion
monosaccharide coupled with non-polar aglycones [28]. Also the rate of aluminum in alkaline solution is under anodic control [35,
leaves of this plant is a rich sources of two lignans known as 36]
phyllathin and hypophyllathin.[29-32] Al + 4OH- → Al(OH) -4 + 3e-

2.3 Phyllanthus amarus in basic medium 2.4 Zenthoxylum in HCl medium:

The material loss as corrosion rate (mm/yr) of the aluminum
specimens as a function of entract concentration in 2MNaOH
solution monitored at 30 C IN Table 2. This shows that the
corrosion rates decreased with increase in concentration of
extract on NaOH solution[33]. This shows that PAE acts as a
corrosion inhibitor for aluminum in NaOH solution. The values
of inhibition efficiency (%I) is given by
%I = ru – rp/ru *100
θ = % I/100
Corrosion rate (mm/yr) = 87.6W/DAt
ru = Corrosion rate in the absence of inhibitor, rp = Corrosion
rate in the presence of inhibitor, W = is the weight loss of
aluminum (mg), D = Density of specimen (g cm-3),A = is the
area of specimen (cm-2)
The decrease in the corrosion value with increasing extract
concentration due to higher degree of surface coverage θ because
of enhanced adsorption [34].
The corrosion rate and inhibition efficiency of mild steel
exposed to 5%HCl at 30,60 and 80o C in the absence and
presence of plant extract were observed . It was evident that the
inhibition efficiency of mild steel increases on addition of plant
extract up to 2400 ppm at 30oC[30].However beyond this
concentration , decrease in corrosion inhibition efficiency was
noticed. As the temperature increases, the corrosion rate
increases and the inhibition efficiency decreases. At 80o C
maximum inhibition efficiency of 89% was obtained in 5% HCl
solution containing 2800 ppm plant extract. It was evident that
the plant extract was capable of reducing the corrosion rate of
mild steel in the temperature range 30-80 o c in 5% HCl solution.
This plant extract has 96% (maximum) corrosion inhibition
efficiency for mild steel in 5% HCl; with 2400 ppm of plant
extract at 30oC than the plant extracts of tobacco, black pepper,
castor seed and soya bean[31].Corrosion inhibition efficiency for
mild steel in 15% HCl medium containing 2800ppm plant extract
at 60 and 80oC are 75% and 45%.It showed that this plant extract
inhibits mild steel corrosion in the temperature range of 30 – 60o
C in 15% HCl medium.
2.5 Zenthoxylum alatum in Phosphoric acid medium
The dependence of corrosion rate and inhibition efficiency
IE(%) of mild steel exposed to 20,50 and 88% phosphoric acid
on the concentration of the plant extract were studied at 30o C.
19 Jothilakshmi et al. / Adv. Mater. Corros. 3 (2014) 17-19
Addition of plant extract increased the corrosion inhibition
efficiency. The inhibition was superior to 95 % in 88%
phosphoric acid at 3200ppm concentration up to 70oC. The
optimum concentration for maximum efficiency is found to be
3200 ppm of plant extract for 50 and 88% phosphoric acid
medium up to 60oC, for 20% phosphoric acid, the optimum
concentration is found to be 2400 ppm irrespective of
temperature. [37]
Conclusion:
There are many good corrosion inhibitors available but it was
evident that the usage of extracts of PAE and zenthoxylum
alatum increased the corrosion inhibition as the concentration
increases. It was very clear that the plant extracts used as
inhibitors inhibits corrosion which is highly cheap, ecofriendly,
non-toxic and easily available inhibitors of plant extracts.
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