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Effects of CO and H Son Corrosion of Martensitic Steels in Brines at Low Temperature
Effects of CO and H Son Corrosion of Martensitic Steels in Brines at Low Temperature
312
mol CO 2 per mol of H 2 O in brine. Two martensitic carbon steels were
selected for the investigation: a high strength low alloy carbon steel
Effects of CO2 and H2S on commonly used for drill pipes, S-135 (G41000), and a newly designed
ultra-high strength low alloy carbon steel, UD-165 (G41300). The
Corrosion of Martensitic Steels experimental results showed that CO 2 :H 2 S ratios as high as 1000 can
result in predominant sour corrosion at 4 oC and 10 MPa.
in Brines at Low Temperature Electrochemical and mass loss measurements showed a distinct drop
in corrosion rate (CR) when transitioning from sweet to sour corrosion,
from the order of 0.5 to 2 mm y-1 in the CO 2 only condition to the
Ruishu Feng,*,†,** Justin R. Beck,†,** Derek M. Hall,† order of 0.05 mm y-1 in the H 2 S-containing conditions. The linear
Aysel Buyuksagis,† Margaret Ziomek-Moroz,‡,*** and sweep voltammetry results indicated that the reaction mechanism was
Serguei N. Lvov,*,†,§,*** also determined by H 2 S even when its concentration was lower than
CO 2 by three orders of magnitude due to specific adsorption of H 2 S.
For the Fe dissolution reaction, H 2 S(aq) probably followed the two-
Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, The EMS electron mechanism, and CO 2 (aq) could have followed the two-
Energy Institute, Department of Materials Science and electron mechanism in the low polarization region and the one-
Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University. electron mechanism in the high polarization region. The cathodic Tafel
slopes at 4 oC were much larger in magnitude than the reported values
at 20 to 30 oC in literature, and the cathodic mechanisms need further
U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology study at 4 oC and high pressure conditions. The modeling software was
Laboratory used to simulate the investigated corrosion. A good agreement was
found between the experimental CR and the modeled CR for the CO 2
only and H 2 S only cases. However, the model predicted that CR in the
ARTICLE INFO
mixed case would match CR in the CO 2 only condition instead of the
Article history: H 2 S only condition. While the experimental corrosion behavior was
strongly dependent on the H 2 S content, the corrosion potential was
Received Day Month Year instead related to the CO 2 content and the brine pH. The inhibiting
Accepted Day Month Year effect of H 2 S on CR could be attributed to the formation of a protective
Available Day Month Year thin sulfide film. The corrosion products for all tests were found to be
quickly oxidized on exposure to air when the experimental system was
Keywords: disassembled.
2.303𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅
𝑏𝑏𝑎𝑎 = (9)
(1+𝛽𝛽)𝐹𝐹 Pourbaix Diagrams and Surface Analysis
Pourbaix diagrams were generated using the commercial
The cathodic reaction during corrosion in a deaerated solution is modeling software to predict the thermodynamically predominant
the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In an acidic solution where corrosion products in each condition, which are depicted in FIGUREs 7
H+(aq) is adequate, the reduction reaction of H+(aq) is dominant as the to 9, respectively. At pH 3.0 for the CO 2 only and CO 2 +H 2 S conditions,
cathodic reaction. The Volmer-Heyrovsky (V-H) mechanism and the soluble Fe2+(aq) was predicted to be the thermodynamically favorable
Volmer-Tafel (V-T) mechanism are the most commonly accepted product, which supported the assumption of active corrosion. At pH
hydrogen evolution reaction mechanisms, and their Tafel slopes can be 4.5 for the H 2 S only condition, Fe2+(aq) and FeHS+(aq) were predicted
calculated following Equations (10) and (11), respectively.2,54 The to be stable. The addition of H 2 S was predicted to favor the formation
dissolved CO 2 and H 2 S could form weak acids in the solution and of FeS(s) at relatively higher pH in FIGUREs 8 and 9. Considering the
participate in the HER in two main ways. One way is to provide H+(aq) inhibiting effect of H 2 S on corrosion rate, the protective FeS(s) might
through dissociation. The other way is the direct reduction of have formed at the steel surface where the pH and Fe2+(aq)
H 2 CO 3 (aq) and H 2 S(aq).45,55 The Tafel slopes for HER with H+(aq), concentration might be higher than in the bulk solution.21
H 2 CO 3 (aq), and H 2 S(aq) were frequently reported to be around -0.120
V dec-1 in literature at 20 to 30 oC, which is often used in modeling In all three conditions, the corrosion scales on the sample surfaces
calculation,43,44,48,52,53 and this value agreed with the V-H mechanism. changed from black to orange quickly during rinsing with distilled
When the availability of the above hydrogen sources is limited, H 2 O(l), water and drying with argon after taking the samples out of the
in an abundant amount, could also be reduced to H 2 (g). The addition autoclave. A large amount of oxygen was detected using SEM-EDS on
of CO 2 (aq) and H 2 S(aq) could increase the cathodic current density, the surfaces for both S-135 and UD-165. More details about surface
and could also lead to a limiting current at high polarization due to analysis can be found in Reference 57. The discoloration and the
mass transport or a slow chemical step such as the hydration of CO 2 significant portion of oxygen on the sample surfaces may have been
and the chemisorption of H 2 S.9,44,48 At even higher cathodic due to oxidation of the existing corrosion products to hematite after
polarization, the limiting current may transition to a Tafel slope again the system was disassembled. This showed that the corrosion product
showing the reduction of H 2 O(l), similarly to the results in Stern’s study stability was quite conditional, and the increase in temperature and
on the effect of pH on cathodic polarization.56 oxygen content could result in a rapid breakdown of the corrosion film.
14 2
3
4
15
5 Non-
16 aqueous
6
7
8
9
10 Aqueous
11 12
13
FIGURE 1. Schematic diagram of the autoclave system. 1- Connection to pressure transducer; 2- Copper coil cooling loop; 3-
Autoclave stainless steel vessel; 4- PTFE liner; 5- Polymer-coated thermocouple; 6- Dip tubing; 7- Epoxy-coated stirrer; 8- PTFE-
coated working electrode lead; 9- Two Ag/AgCl reference electrodes; 10- Two mass loss samples; 11- PTFE assembly; 12- Two or
three steel working electrodes; 13- Two or three Pt counter electrodes; 14- Supercritical CO 2 pump; 15- H 2 S/Ar cylinder; 16-
CO 2 cylinder.
S-135
12000
10000
8000
Rpol / Ω cm2
6000
4000
2000
0
CO2 CO2+H2S H2S
UD-165
5000
4000
Rpol / Ω cm2
3000
2000
1000
0
CO2 CO2+H2S H2S
LPR EIS
FIGURE 2. R pol from LPR and EIS for S-135 (top) and UD-165 (bottom) after 60 hours in the CO 2 only, CO 2 +H 2 S, and H 2 S only
cases. Conditions: 4 oC, 10 MPa, 0.9 mol kg-1 NaCl solutions, 150 RPM.
S-135 UD-165
8000 300
4000
150
200 100
6000 100
3000
50
-Zimag / Ω cm2
-Zimag / Ω cm2
0 0
4000 0 100 200 300 2000 0 50 100 150
2000 1000
0 0
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000
Zreal / Ω cm2 Zreal / Ω cm2
10 10
-10 -10
Phase Angle / °
Phase Angle / °
-30 -30
-50 -50
-70 -70
-90 -90
0.001 0.1 10 1000 100000 0.001 0.1 10 1000 100000
Frequency / Hz Frequency / Hz
FIGURE 3. Nyquist plots and Bode phase angle plots for S-135 (left) and UD-165 (right) after 60 hours. Conditions: 4 oC, 10 MPa,
0.9 mol kg-1 NaCl solutions, 150 RPM. Symbols: x = CO 2 , o = CO 2 +H 2 S, + = H 2 S.
Rsol Cdl
Rpol
S-135
0.04
0.02
0.01
-0.01
-0.02
-1 -0.75 -0.5 -0.25 0 0.25
Potential / V vs SHE
UD-165
0.04
Current density / A cm-2
0.03
0.02
0.01
-0.01
-0.02
-1 -0.75 -0.5 -0.25 0 0.25
Potential / V vs SHE
FIGURE 5. Cyclic voltammetry curves for S-135 (top) and UD-165 (bottom) at 50 mV s-1. Conditions: 4 oC, 10 MPa, 0.9 mol kg-1
NaCl solutions, 150 RPM. black = CO 2 , grey = CO 2 +H 2 S, dashed = H 2 S.
S-135
0.1
0.001
0.0001
0.00001
-0.8 -0.7 -0.6 -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1
Potential / V vs SHE
UD-165
0.1
Current density / A cm-2
0.01
0.001
0.0001
0.00001
-0.8 -0.7 -0.6 -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1
Potential / V, vs SHE
FIGURE 6. LSV plots for S-135 (top) and UD-165 (bottom) at a scan rate of 1 mV s-1. Conditions: 4 oC, 10 MPa, 0.9 mol kg-1 NaCl
solutions, 150 RPM. black = CO 2 , grey = CO 2 +H 2 S, dashed = H 2 S.
FIGURE 7. Pourbaix diagram of Fe-H 2 O-CO 2 system. Conditions: 4 oC, 10 MPa, 0.9 mol kg-1 NaCl, 14.49 mol H 2 O, 4.52 mol CO 2 .
FIGURE 8. Pourbaix diagram of Fe-H 2 O-CO 2 -H 2 S system. Conditions: 4 oC, 10 MPa, 0.9 mol kg-1 NaCl, 14.40 mol H 2 O, 4.49 mol
CO 2 , 4.49×10-3 mol H 2 S, 0.0404 mol Ar.
FIGURE 9. Pourbaix diagram of Fe-H 2 O-H 2 S system. Conditions: 4 oC, 7 MPa, 0.9 mol kg-1 NaCl, 20.20 mol H 2 O, 6.30×10-3 mol
H 2 S, 0.5597 mol Ar.
TABLE 1
Test conditions for corrosion tests (mol) at 4 oC
H2S CO 2 H2O NaCl Ar
CO 2 0 4.52 14.49 0.235 0
CO 2 +H 2 S 4.49×10-3 4.49 14.40 0.233 0.0404
H2S 6.30×10-3 0 20.20 0.327 0.5597
TABLE 2
Chemical compositions (%mass) of S-135 and UD-165
Steel Fe Cr Mn Mo Al Ni Cu Nb S
S-135 Bal 1.39 0.78 0.68 0.03 0.02 0.02 <0.01 0.002
UD-165 Bal 0.79 0.88 0.67 0.03 0.81 0.19 0.02 0.007
Steel P B C N V Si Sn Ti
S-135 0.006 <0.005 0.26 0.005 <0.01 0.3 <0.01 <0.01
UD-165 <0.005 <0.005 0.27 0.007 0.07 0.26 <0.01 <0.01
TABLE 3
The calculated pH and carbonate and sulfide species in the aqueous phase (mol/kg H 2 O)
CO 2 CO 2 +H 2 S H2S
pH 3.0 3.0 4.5
CO 2 (aq) 1.43 1.44 0
HCO 3 -(aq) 9.29×10-4 9.28×10-4 0
CO 3 2-(aq) 1.48×10-10 1.47×10-10 0
H 2 S(aq) 0 3.29×10-3 1.41×10-2
HS-(aq) 0 2.12×10-7 3.39×10-5
S2-(aq) 0 1.68×10-19 7.75×10-16
TABLE 4
Corrosion rate (mm y ) results for S-135 and UD-165
-1
TABLE 5
Experimental and modeled corrosion potentials (V vs SHE)
Gas S-135 UD-165 Modeled
CO 2 -0.353±0.001 -0.332±0.001 -0.374
CO 2 +H 2 S -0.337±0.004 -0.337±0.004 -0.376
H2S -0.444±0.002 -0.460±0.002 -0.463
TABLE 6
The Tafel slopes (V dec ) at the three different gas conditions
-1
S-135 UD-165
Gas ba bc ba bc
(I) 0.054±0.007 (I) 0.099±0.022
CO 2 -0.755±0.000 -0.608±0.077
(II) 0.178±0.024 (II) 0.251±0.057
CO 2 +H 2 S 0.073±0.001 -0.395±0.064 0.063 -0.481
H2S 0.076±0.021 -0.312±0.098 0.092±0.001 -0.251±0.041
Note: In the CO 2 only case, (I) represents the low polarization region and (II) represents the high polarization region.
TABLE 7
Symmetry coefficients β calculated from the measured Tafel slopes
S-135 UD-165
Anodic reaction 2e 1e Bockris 2e 1e Bockris
(I) 0.49 -0.02 0.02 0.72 0.45 -0.45
CO 2
(II) 0.85 0.69 -0.69 0.89 0.78 -0.78
CO 2 +H 2 S 0.63 0.25 -0.25 0.57 0.13 -0.13
H2S 0.64 0.28 -0.28 0.70 0.40 -0.40
Cathodic reaction V-H V-T 2e V-H V-T 2e
CO 2 0.07 - 0.04 0.09 - 0.05
CO 2 +H 2 S 0.14 - 0.07 0.11 - 0.06
H2S 0.18 - 0.09 0.22 - 0.11
Note: In the CO 2 only case, (I) represents the low polarization region and (II) represents the high polarization region.