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(3) the CO 2 +H 2 S mixture condition with 3.12 x 10-4 mol H 2 S and 0.

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.

A. Sweet and sour corrosion


B. Corrosion rate
C. Corrosion mechanism
D. Martensitic carbon steels INTRODUCTION
E. Cold-climate corrosion
The presence of CO 2 and H 2 S in condensed water phases has been of
*Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, The Pennsylvania State considerable interest to scientists and engineers dealing with corrosion
University, University Park, PA 16802, USA in oil and gas operations, from production to processing.1–11 One of the
major effects of sweet corrosion is that dissolved CO 2 lowers the
†The EMS Energy Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, solution pH and increases the rate of corrosion.12–16 Sour corrosion,
PA 16802, USA where H 2 S is present, has generally been found to reduce corrosion
rates when the H 2 S concentration is low.17–23 The proposed
‡U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, 1450
mechanism for this drop is the formation of a relatively protective iron
Queen Avenue SW, Albany, OR 97321, USA
sulfide film. However, while the reduced material loss may be
§Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State welcome, the tradeoff of H 2 S content is an increased susceptibility to
University, University Park, PA 16802, USA sulfide stress cracking (SSC). With drastically different failure modes
being possible, the corrosion behavior in mixed gas systems becomes
**First authors: Ruishu.Feng@NETL.DOE.GOV (R. Feng); jrb1005@psu.edu (J. R. important for proper design of corrosion prevention and mitigation.
Beck).
Currently, no widespread law or model exists for determining the
***Corresponding authors: Tel.: +1 814 863 8377; Fax: +1 814 865 3248; Email:
lvov@psu.edu (S. N. Lvov). Tel.: +1 541 967 5943; Fax: +1 541 967 5880; Email: transition between sweet and sour corrosion. NACE SP0110 Appendix
Margaret.Ziomek-Moroz@NETL.DOE.GOV (M. Ziomek-Moroz). A describes a rough rule for determining the sweet-sour transition by
the CO 2 :H 2 S ratio based on previous experimental results.24 A ratio
above 500 would be expected to produce predominantly sweet
corrosion, while a ratio below 20 would be expected to show
ABSTRACT predominantly sour corrosion. A ratio between 20 and 500 may allow
for a mixed corrosion mechanism where both FeCO 3 and FeS could
Corrosion studies were conducted for martensitic carbon steels in
coexist. Smith investigated the assumption of 500 on the upper end of
brine solutions at 4 °C and 10 MPa (1450 psi) to simulate the
the CO 2 :H 2 S ratio.25 Thermodynamic calculations on the stability of
subsurface environments that can be encountered in Arctic drilling.
FeCO 3 and FeS showed that while a ratio of 500 could be justified, it
Three conditions with a 5 %wt. NaCl brine were used: (1) the CO 2 only
was found to have minor to moderate sensitivity to temperature and
condition with 0.312 mol of CO 2 per mol of H 2 O in brine, (2) the H 2 S
solution ionic strength and extreme sensitivity to the thermodynamic
only condition with 3.12 x 10-4 mol of H 2 S per mol of H 2 O in brine, and
data quality. An example was that a 1 % change in the Gibbs free environments.10 Deep wells are predicted to encounter total pressures
energy value for FeCO 3 could change the ratio by over a factor of 10. up to and even above 100 MPa, and the “gas” phase may contain over
10 % CO2 and 0.01 % H2S. The following assumption was employed for
Another consideration beyond the corrosion products stability is this study. The test systems were initially calculated to represent
the kinetics for the corrosion process. Work has continued on exposure to 10 MPa CO2 and/or 0.01 MPa H2S (either gas or condensed
laboratory experiments investigating the kinetic effects of different phase). A 1:1 volume ratio of aqueous:non-aqueous phase was
CO 2 :H 2 S ratios over a wide range of conditions. Experiments have considered as coming to equilibrium. At equilibrium, each component
shown that CO 2 :H 2 S ratios from 500 to as high as 10,000 can still see a existed in all the phases inside the system. The total amount of each
decrease in corrosion rate by almost an order of magnitude relative to component in the whole system was calculated, and the system could
the pure CO 2 condition.17–23 Results at higher H 2 S concentrations have be defined through the mol X:mol H2O ratios, where X represents the
ranged from no significant effects to notable increases in corrosion non-water species such as NaCl, CO2, H2S, and Ar.
rates, though the corrosion rates in CO 2 -H 2 S mixtures were generally
lower than in pure CO 2 .18,19 While a decrease in material loss may be The initial calculation results had to be adapted to account for
favorable, the presence of the protective iron sulfide films can also physical limitations in the system when maintaining the proper mol
make the underlying steels more susceptible to pitting.15,26,27 The ratios. The final ratios used for laboratory testing were 0.312 mol
transition to sour corrosion can also increase the risk of sulfide stress CO2:mol H2O and 3.12 x 10-4 mol H2S:mol H2O (maintaining CO2:H2S
cracking,4 and the recommendations from NACE MR0175 / ISO 15156 =1000:1 for the mixed case). The Ar:H2O ratio was not controlled, but
should be taken into account for selecting cracking-resistant rather argon was used to dilute H2S and balance the pressure between
materials.28 tests. Phase equilibria calculations were performed using commercial
thermodynamic modeling software to determine the final amounts of
The cold-climate corrosion oil country tubular goods is a great each species needed to achieve the internal autoclave volume (476 mL
concern for the integration and safety of oil and natural gas after assembly) at 4 °C and a total pressure of 10 MPa. The system
exploration and production in low-temperature climates. Although the compositions (in mol) for the three test environments are given in
temperatures are lower, the higher dissolved gas concentrations can TABLE 1.
increase the risk of corrosion and failure, such as H 2 S and CO 2 in deep
wells.29,30 The cold-climate regions include more than the designated Investigated Materials
Arctic and Antarctic areas. Perrigo suggested the regions defined by Two martensitic drilling steels were tested: a high strength low
the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory alloy carbon steel commonly used for drill pipes, grade S-135 (G41000),
(CRREL), where the approximate average temperature in the coldest and a newly designed ultra-high strength low alloy carbon steel, grade
month is 0 oC (32 oF) or lower.30,31 Thus, the cold-climate corrosion is UD-165 (G41300). Their chemical compositions are given in TABLE 2.
prevalent beyond Arctic and Antarctic areas. The primary differences in composition were lower chromium and
higher manganese, nickel, copper, and vanadium in UD-165 than in S-
The purpose of the present work was to provide data and 135. The level of sulfur was also higher for UD-165. This resulted in UD-
discussion on corrosion of a high strength low alloy carbon steel, grade 165 with higher yield strength and ultimate tensile strength.33
S-135 (G41000), and an ultra-high strength low alloy carbon steel,
grade UD-165 (G41300) in sweet and sour environments at lower These two steels were used as working electrodes with
temperatures related to offshore oil and gas operations in cold dimensions of 10x10x5 mm for the electrochemical tests. One 10x10
climates. The tests investigated corrosion in brines at equilibrium with mm face served as the electrode surface exposed to the test solutions,
CO2, H2S, and a mixed phase at a CO2:H2S ratio of 1000 at 4 oC and 10 and a 304 stainless steel (UNS S30400) wire was attached to the
MPa total pressure using electrochemical techniques, mass loss opposite face as the electrical lead. The lead was coated with
measurements, software modeling, and surface analyses. shrinkable polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) tubing. Two to three steel
electrodes were placed into a PTFE holder and all sides other than the
10x10 mm electrode surface were sealed to the PTFE using an epoxy.

EXPERIMENTAL Mass loss samples were prepared using 25x20x2 mm plates. A 3


mm ID hole was drilled near the top of the plate so that the samples
could be suspended from a PTFE-coated wire. The electrode surface
and mass loss sample were both ground with 600 grit SiC paper and
Test Conditions then cleaned for 30 to 60 minutes in acetone inside an ultrasonic bath.
Representative of low temperature offshore drilling
conditions, a temperature of 4 °C was selected with a total system
pressure of 10MPa. The test solution contained 5 %wt. NaCl (0.9 mol System Setup
kg-1). The sweet/sour/mixed conditions were prepared by holding the The electrochemical measurements were performed using a
test solution in equilibrium with one of three non-aqueous phases: three-electrode system. The working electrodes consisted of two or
pure CO2, a H2S/Ar mixture, and a CO2/H2S/Ar mixture. It should be three steel samples prepared as described above. The counter
noted that 10 MPa was above the CO2 critical pressure (7.38 MPa) but electrodes were 20x10x1 mm platinum plate or mesh. The electrode
4 °C was below the CO2 critical temperature (31 °C).32 Care should be leads were coated with PTFE. The counter electrode leads were
taken to describe the system at high pressures when referring to such inserted through the PTFE assembly edge to place each counter
substances as “gas” or “vapor” phases, and describing in terms of electrode parallel to a working electrode in the system. The schematic
molar fraction may reflect their compositions in the system more diagram of the autoclave system is shown in FIGURE 1. Two mass loss
accurately. samples were suspended by PTFE-coated wire from the autoclave lid,
with care taken to ensure that they would remain in the aqueous
Using the molar fraction, the conditions and test procedure phase without contacting any of the inner surfaces.
were designed to allow consistent dosing of substances while
maintaining concentrations representative of deep-well
Custom double-junction silver-silver chloride electrodes were magnified due to the small non-aqueous volume relative to the
prepared for the high pressure systems. The filling solution was 5 %wt. incompressible aqueous phase.
NaCl(aq) to reduce the liquid junction potential between the reference
electrode and test solutions. The inner junction of the reference For the CO 2 and CO 2 +H 2 S tests, CO 2 was added as the final step
electrode consisted of the Ag/AgCl electrode submerged in solution- after the water injection to bring the system up to 10 MPa. CO 2 was
saturated zirconia sand inside an alumina tube. The top of the tube added using a supercritical CO 2 pump which was a modified design of
was sealed with high temperature epoxy, and the bottom was the HPLC pump. Additional CO 2 had to be added over the first 12 hours
supported using a porous zirconia-magnesia cement. The second to compensate pressure drops due to the dissolution of CO 2 into the
junction was prepared by sealing a shrinkable PTFE tube around the aqueous solution.
outside of the ceramic tube. Inside the extended PTFE tube bottom
was filled again with solution-saturated zirconia sand, and either After all components were added the autoclave was sealed for
another cement frit or a perforated PTFE plug was used to support the the exposure period. The electrochemical measurements included
second junction. Two reference electrodes were used for each test in linear polarization resistance (LPR), electrochemical impedance
case one failed before the end of the exposure, and fresh electrodes spectroscopy (EIS), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and linear sweep
were prepared for each assembled autoclave. The reference electrode voltammetry (LSV). LPR and EIS measurements were performed
potential at 4 °C was calculated to be 0.248 V vs the standard hydrogen regularly for at least 60 hours until the system approached a steady
electrode (SHE) using the data from OLI Analyzer. The results were state. LPR was measured at 0.1 mV s-1 over a range of ±15 mV around
confirmed through comparison with calculation performed using the corrosion potential, E corr . EIS was performed with an amplitude of
thermodynamic properties and activity coefficients from literature.34–36 10 mV over a frequency range from 200 kHz down to 5 mHz. After 60
hours, CV was run at sweep rates of 100, 50, and 10 mV s-1. LSV was
All measurements were performed in a 600 mL autoclave vessel. conducted at a scan rate of 1 mV s-1, sweeping up and down from E corr .
A PTFE liner was used to isolate the test solution from the autoclave One of the working electrodes was used for surface analysis, so it was
vessel. Temperature was controlled using a circulating chiller and a not polarized with CV and LSV. Total exposure time ranged from 90 to
copper coil cooling loop wrapped around the autoclave vessel. All test 120 hours and was recorded for mass loss calculations. For data
systems were stirred using an impeller rotating at around 150 analysis, the average and the standard deviation were obtained from
revolution per minute (RPM). A computer-controlled Gamry Reference the measurements of the two or three working electrodes in each
600 potentiostat was used to perform the electrochemical condition at steady state.
measurements.
After the electrochemical tests were completed the autoclave
Experimental Procedure systems were depressurized and disassembled. All electrodes and mass
To achieve 10 MPa total pressure and the system composition loss samples were rinsed with distilled water, dried with argon, and
shown in TABLE 1, the experimental procedure was as follows. First, sealed in sample bags under argon. The working electrode used for
the autoclave was assembled dry with all electrodes and mass loss surface analysis was examined with scanning electron microscopy
samples. Only one kind of steel (either S-135 or UD-165) was present in (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Mass loss
each assembled autoclave. The desired amount of NaCl(s) was placed samples were cleaned and analyzed according to ASTM G1-03 using
at the vessel bottom before it was sealed. Then, the sealed vessel was Solution C.3.5 (HCl and hexamethylene tetramine) as described in
then purged of oxygen by repeated and slow pressurization and Appendix A1.37 Freshly polished, unexposed samples for each steel
depressurization cycles up to 2 MPa (290 psi). Care had to be taken to were also cleaned to serve as calibrations and account for material loss
prevent gas bubbles from forming at the reference electrode junctions. due to the cleaning procedure.
This was believed to have caused failure in some of the reference
electrodes by increasing internal resistance. During this process, the
cooling was started to bring the system down to 4 °C. This usually RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
involved letting the system chill overnight to ensure it was at a stable
temperature for gas injection. The temperature stability was typically
within ±1 °C, though on hot days the variability could be as high as ±3 Solution Speciation
°C. The speciation in the three conditions were calculated using
commercial software.38 The calculated pH and the carbonate and sulfide
After the autoclave was deaerated and cooled, the system species in the aqueous phase are given in TABLE 3. The solution pH was
pressure was brought down to just above atmospheric pressure to predicted to be around 3.0 for the two conditions containing CO 2 and
maintain positive pressurization, and H2S was added (if needed) using 4.5 for the H 2 S only condition. From the CO 2 only condition to CO 2 +H 2 S
a 10 %vol. H2S in Ar blend. The desired pressure was calculated using condition, pH and carbonate speciation were barely changed with the
the autoclave practical total volume of 476 mL after assembly and the addition of relatively small amount of H 2 S (total H 2 S:CO 2 =0.001). In
ideal gas law at 4 °C. In the H2S tests, the H2S addition was followed by both conditions, CO 2 (aq) was the dominant active species and the
further addition of Ar to help balance the final pressure. The deaerated H 2 S(aq) concentration, if any, was three orders of magnitude lower. In
deionized water was injected into the autoclave vessel using a high the H2S only condition, the sulfide species concentrations were
performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) pump. The deionized relatively higher than in CO 2 +H 2 S condition without the dissolution of
water was deaerated with Ar for at least one hour. The HPLC pump H 2 S in the CO 2 -rich phase. H 2 S(aq) was the dominant sulfide species in
was set at a constant flow rate of 10 mL min-1 and run until the the H 2 S-containing conditions.
desired amount of water was transferred to the system. Then the
5%wt. NaCl solution formed inside the vessel as the aqueous phase. Polarization Resistance and Corrosion Rate
For the H 2 S tests, water injection was the final step and was used to The polarization resistances, R pol , of S-135 and UD-165 from LPR
bring the system to its final pressure. It should be noted that while the and EIS in each condition at steady state are depicted in FIGURE 2.
target pressure was 10 MPa, the actual pressure was in the range of 6 Both steels showed an obvious correlation between R pol and the
to 8 MPa due to small errors in water addition and in determining the presence of H 2 S. R pol increased by at least one order of magnitude in
autoclave practical internal volume after assembly. These errors were
the presence of H2S, indicating the inhibiting effect of small amount of The modeled CR in the CO2 only condition agreed with the
H 2 S on corrosion. This matched the behavior that has been reported experimental CR for UD-165. For S-135, although it was four times
for low concentrations of H 2 S.18,19 For each steel, R pol in the H 2 S only higher than the experimental CR, the modeled CR was still within a
condition was about half of that in the CO 2 +H 2 S condition, which reasonable range. Good agreement was seen in the H 2 S only condition
suggested that a higher concentration of H 2 S(aq) could also accelerate for both UD-165 and S-135 within a factor of two. Overall, the
the corrosion considering that the H 2 S(aq) concentration was higher by modelling for these two conditions was considered to be quite good
a factor of 4 in the H 2 S only condition as shown in TABLE 3. when considering that a generic carbon steel was assumed in place of
the specific steels tested.
The corrosion rates (CR) of S-135 and UD-165 were calculated
according to the Stern-Geary Equation using Rpol.2,39 The Tafel slopes Substantial disagreement was seen in the CO 2 +H 2 S mixture. The
were calculated assuming the symmetry coefficient, β, was 0.5 and two experimental CR results showed that the mixed case behaved very
electrons were transferred in the Fe dissolution reaction. The CR from close to the H 2 S only condition, indicating sour corrosion was
LPR, EIS, and mass loss samples are given in TABLE 4. Inversely with dominant. However, the modeled CR results were very close to the
R pol , the corrosion rate dropped by at least one order of magnitude in prediction for CO 2 corrosion, resulting in overly high predicted
the presence of H 2 S. A small increase in corrosion rate was observed corrosion rates. Increasing the amount of H 2 S in the model, thereby
when H 2 S(aq) concentration increased in the aqueous phase from decreasing the CO 2 :H 2 S ratio, only increased the predicted corrosion
CO 2 +H 2 S condition to the H 2 S only condition; however, the CR rate, showing that the issue was not a simple “tipping point” between
increase was negligible when compared with the decrease from the sweet and sour corrosion. Decreasing the amount of CO 2 in the model
CO 2 only condition. (while keeping H 2 S constant) decreased the predicted corrosion rate
but did not reach the low rates in the H2S only case. The rotectiveness
It can be seen that a CO 2 :H 2 S ratio as high as 1000 was still of sulfide layers need to be better accounted for in the model.
enough to transition from sweet to sour corrosion in the low
temperature and high pressure environment tested here. While a TABLE 5 shows comparison between the experimentally
decrease in material loss is generally welcome in corroding systems, measured E corr and those calculated using the commercial modeling
the tradeoff for the protection of iron sulfide can be an increased risk software. It can be seen that, unlike the corrosion rate, the measured
for cracking. For this reason, laboratory corrosion measurements for E corr was strongly correlated with the presence of CO 2 rather than H 2 S.
sour corrosion should be coupled with mechanical testing where This suggests that Ecorr was more a function of pH, which was
possible to determine if the decrease in corrosion rate due to the predicted to be 3.0 for the systems containing CO2 and 4.5 for the
transition from sweet to sour corrosion coincides with increased system without CO 2 . This would affect the equilibrium potential for the
susceptibility to sulfide stress cracking. cathodic reactions (hydrogen evolution reactions), which could in turn
shift E corr to a more positive value when the pH is lower. It could also
Very good agreement was seen between the LPR and EIS results in affect the equilibrium potential for the anodic reaction by changing the
all cases. Good agreement was seen between the corrosion rates from solubility of corrosion products in the aqueous phase, according to the
the electrochemical and mass loss measurements in the CO 2 only Nernst Equation. The modeled E corr values for all conditions were in
condition. However, the difference was greater when H 2 S was present, good agreement with the experimental data. Importantly, the model
where corrosion rates from mass loss samples were consistently larger correctly predicted the change in E corr when CO 2 was not present in
than those from the electrochemical tests. The difference was the system.
attributed to relatively larger errors in the mass loss measurements
when the corrosion rates were lower. It was found that the material EIS Results
lost from each exposure to the cleaning solution was of a similar order The representative Nyquist plots and Bode phase angle plots in
to the mass lost from corrosion in H 2 S-containing conditions, which each condition after 60 hours are shown in FIGURE 3. Only one time
likely resulted in an exaggerated corrosion rate. constant was observed in all three environments, and the Nyquist plots
were depressed semicircles. A dramatic increase in impedance was
In all three conditions, UD-165 gave a higher overall corrosion rate observed in the presence of H2S, which was consistent with the LPR
than S-135 in the electrochemical tests, even after accounting for the results. Additionally, it can be seen that the transition to sour corrosion
standard deviation between samples. The difference was roughly a doubled the maximum phase angle to close to 90 o, suggesting that the
factor of two in the presence of H 2 S, but was as much as four times double layer capacitances in H 2 S-containing conditions showed more
larger in the CO 2 only system. The trend was seen in the mass loss data ideal capacitive behavior than those in the CO 2 only system. There was
for the CO 2 -containing systems but was not present in the H 2 S only no significant or consistent shift in the frequency at which the
system. This may again have been due to measurement errors in the maximum peak was observed, suggesting that the overall capacitance
mass loss samples. of the corrosion product film did not change greatly with the change in
corrosion rate.
Corrosion Modeling Results
The experimental results were compared with those calculated The EIS results confirmed the activation-controlled corrosion
for each condition using the commercial modeling software,40,41 and behavior, which was the assumption used to calculate the corrosion
the modeled CR results are given in TABLE 4. The CR calculations were rates.36,39 The data was fitted using the Randles circuit without
performed assuming a rotating disk of generic carbon steel (G10100) in diffusion shown in FIGURE 4. R sol represents the solution resistance,
the test environments listed in TABLE 1 at 4 oC and 10 MPa with the and R pol represents the polarization resistance. A constant phase
exception of 7 MPa in the H 2 S only system. Hydrodynamic effects were element (CPE) was used to account for non-ideality of the double layer
approximated as a 10 mm OD rotating disk electrode at 150 RPM, capacitance, C dl . The R pol values from EIS fitting results are shown in
though hydrodynamic effects (rotating rate) were found to have only a FIGURE 2 and were used to calculate the CR in TABLE 4.
minor impact on the calculations at the test conditions.
Cyclic Voltammetry Results
The representative CV curves for the two tested steels are shown 1.9,44,49,50 However, Nesic et al.51 reported that b values transitioned
a
in FIGURE 5. All curves were corrected to take into account the from 0.03 to 0.12 V dec-1 when pH increased from 4 to 5 at 22 oC,
solution resistance determined from EIS. Three distinct trends were indicating a mechanism transition. Moreover, Videm and Koren stated
observed. First and foremost, no obvious limiting currents were that the anodic Tafel slope was 0.03 V dec-1 in the low potential region
observed at anodic regions and the sweep up and down plots were and 0.12 V dec-1 in the higher potentials at 25 oC.14 Assuming the
almost overlaid, indicating that the anodic reactions were not limited symmetry coefficient to be 0.5, the b a value of 0.12 V dec-1 could be
by mass transport. Secondly, a consistent peak was seen in the anodic correlated with a mechanism involving one electron transferred in the
sweep for both steels in the H 2 S and CO 2 +H 2 S systems that was absent rate determining step (RDS). It has been proposed by the authors
in the CO 2 only system. It suggested that this peak thus corresponded previously that at 85 oC the HS-(aq) reaction involved two electrons
to a sulfide-related process. This peak was within about 100 mV from (2e) transferring simultaneously as the RDS, and the HCO 3 -(aq)
the measured E corr in each case, indicating that the process was likely reaction followed the one-electron mechanism (1e), and the OH-(aq)
to be present as part of the corrosion process. The third trend was that reaction followed the Bockris mechanism.2 To check if these three
the anodic slopes for the H 2 S and CO 2 +H 2 S curves were notably anodic mechanisms were also applicable in the conditions tested here
steeper than for the CO 2 curve, suggesting that the presence of H 2 S at 4 oC, the symmetry coefficients (β) were calculated from the
affected the corrosion mechanism in addition to reducing the available measured Tafel slopes following Equations (4), (8) and (9), and the
reactive area. Trends for the cathodic side of the sweeps were results are shown in TABLE 7.
inconsistent and no similar conclusions were drawn. Sweeps at 100 mV
s-1 showed nearly identical behavior to those shown in FIGURE 5 at 50 Due to its physical meaning, β should be between 0 and 1, and β is
mV s-1, only with larger current densities. In sweeps at 10 mV s-1 the usually assumed as 0.5 for kinetics calculations. Thus, the Bockris
magnitude of the H 2 S-related peak was much smaller than at 50 mV s-1 mechanism was not possible because its corresponding β values were
and in some cases was difficult to distinguish. This correlation mostly negative. The corresponding β values were between 0 and 1 for
indicated a capacitive feature of the process to which this H 2 S-related the two-electron mechanism and the one-electron mechanism, so both
peak corresponded. mechanisms were possible in the three gas conditions at 4 oC. β is
usually considered as 0.5, and the mechanisms were postulated from
Linear Sweep Voltammetry Results this perspective. The corresponding β values for the two-electron
The representative LSV plots for both steels in the three different mechanism were consistently around 0.5 in the CO 2 +H 2 S condition
gas conditions are shown in FIGURE 6. All plots were corrected for R sol and the H2S only condition. Hence, the presence of H 2 S could have
determined from EIS. With the polarization of at least 200 mV at both resulted in the two-electron mechanism. According to TABLE 3,
anodic and cathodic regions, no obvious limiting current densities were H 2 S(aq) was the most dominant reactive species in the H 2 S only case.
observed in any curves, indicating that both steels were under active Therefore, H 2 S(aq) probably followed the two-electron mechanism,
corrosion in the acidic solutions containing CO 2 and/or H 2 S. This result which are written in Reactions (1) to (3). This mechanism was also
agreed with the reported effects of CO 2 and H 2 S in literature.15,21,42–44 proposed and used by Iofa et al.48 and Zhang et al.8 The specific
In each condition, the average Tafel slope was obtained from the two adsorption of H 2 S changed the surface coverage in the CO 2 +H 2 S case
or three working electrodes, which are given in TABLE 6 along with the and shifted the mechanism from that in the CO2 only case.48 The two-
standard deviation. For the CO 2 only case, two quasi-linear regions electron mechanism of H 2 S(aq) agreed with the anodic Tafel slopes
were observed in the anodic region, the low polarization region and reported in literature for H 2 S-containing solutions, 0.04 to 0.05 V dec-1
the high polarization region. While the low polarization region could be at 20 to 30 oC, where β was around 0.6.43,52,53
interfered by the cathodic reaction, the high polarization region could
be influenced by mass transport or a chemical step. Therefore, the The mechanism in the CO 2 only case was not as conclusive.
anodic Tafel slopes in both regions are listed. The CO 2 +H 2 S condition However, considering the β values for both S-135 and UD-165 in TABLE
and the H 2 S only condition had similar anodic (b a ) and cathodic (b c ) 7, it was suggested that CO 2 (aq) could have followed the two-electron
Tafel slopes, which were different from those in the CO 2 only mechanism in the low polarization region and the one-electron
system.This indicated that the reaction mechanism was determined by mechanism in the high polarization region. The one-electron
H 2 S even when its concentration was lower than CO2 by three orders mechanism is written in Reactions (5) to (7). Although the proposed
of magnitude. The cathodic Tafel slope for UD-165 in the CO 2 +H 2 S CO 2 mechanisms did not include the Bockris mechanism which is
condition was between the CO 2 only condition and H2S only condition; frequently assumed at room temperature, the one-electron
however, it still confirmed that the presence of H 2 S decreased the mechanism was in good agreement with the Tafel slopes reported at
cathodic Tafel slope. In FIGURE 6, for UD-165 in CO2+H2S condition, pH>5 by Nesic et al.51 and in high polarization regions by Videm and
the slope at the further polarized anodic region was close to the anodic Koren.14 The mechanisms for H 2 S(aq) and CO 2 (aq) at 4 oC were
Tafel slope in the CO 2 only condition, which indicated that CO 2 generally consistent with the proposed mechanisms at 85 oC by the
corrosion could have taken over when H 2 S was consumed at the authors.2
surface. This region was not taken for the anodic slope calculation.
The two-electron mechanism for H 2 S(aq):
The anodic reaction during corrosion was the dissolution of Fe.
For H 2 S corrosion, Shoesmith et al.45 proposed a chemisorption- Fe(s) + H 2 S(aq) + H 2 O(l) ↔ FeHS-(ad) + H 3 O+(aq)
oxidation mechanism between Fe and H 2 S to form mackinawite in
(1)
saturated H 2 S solutions at 21 oC, and Ma et al.46 proposed a similar
mechanism with two consecutive electron transfers. These two
mechanisms are both analogous to a Fe dissolution reaction FeHS-(ad) → FeHS+(ad) + 2e- (RDS) (2)
mechanism proposed by Bockris et al.47 involving an intermediate with
OH-(aq). Iofa et al.48 and Zhang et al.8 described a mechanism involving FeHS+(ad) + H 3 O+(aq) ↔ Fe2+(aq) + H 2 S(aq) + H 2 O(l)
a chemisorbed hydrogen sulfide layer and two electrons transferred (3)
simultaneously. For CO 2 corrosion, the anodic mechanism has been
frequently assumed to follow the Bockris mechanism, which could well
explain some experimental Tafel slopes from 0.03 to 0.04 V dec.-
2.303𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅 be the V-H mechanism than the V-T mechanism and the two-electron
𝑏𝑏𝑎𝑎 = (4)
2(1−𝛽𝛽)𝐹𝐹 mechanism, although the very low β values suggested some other
mechanisms may better explain the behavior. Considering the cathodic
where R is the gas constant, T is the absolute temperature, and F is the Tafel slopes were taken in the linear regions 100 to 200 mV from E corr ,
Faraday constant. the large Tafel slopes may have been complicated with mass transport
or a slow chemical step. The chemisorption of H 2 S could have caused
The one-electron mechanism for CO 2 (aq): the smaller magnitudes of b c values in the H 2 S-containing conditions
than the CO2 only condition.
Fe(s) + CO 2 (aq) + 2H 2 O(l) → FeHCO 3 (ad) + H 3 O+(aq) + e-
Cathodic Tafel slope in the V-H mechanism:54
(RDS) (5)
2.303𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅
𝑏𝑏𝑐𝑐 = − (10)
𝛽𝛽𝛽𝛽
FeHCO 3 (ad) ↔ FeHCO 3 +(ad) + e-
(6) Cathodic Tafel slope in the V-T mechanism:54
FeHCO 3 +(ad) + H 3 O+(aq) ↔ Fe2+(aq) + CO 2 (aq) + 2H 2 O(l) 2.303𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅
𝑏𝑏𝑐𝑐 = − (11)
(7) 2𝐹𝐹

2.303𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅 Cathodic Tafel slope in the two-electron mechanism:


𝑏𝑏𝑎𝑎 = (8)
(1−𝛽𝛽)𝐹𝐹
2.303𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅
𝑏𝑏𝑐𝑐 = − (12)
Anodic Tafel slope in the Bockris mechanism:46 2𝛽𝛽𝛽𝛽

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.

The corresponding β values for V-H and V-T mechanisms were


calculated from the measured cathodic Tafel slopes, and the results
are listed in TABLE 7. The cathodic Tafel slope of V-T was not affected
by β according to Equation (11), so no β value could be calculated for CONCLUSIONS
V-T. Assuming β to be 0.5, the b c value for V-T was calculated to be
0.0275 V dec-1, which had a much smaller magnitude than the
Experimental results for two drill steels, S-135 and UD-165,
measured Tafel slopes; therefore, the V-T mechanism was unlikely for
the tested conditions. A two-electron cathodic mechanism was also showed a distinct drop in corrosion rate when transitioning from sweet
to sour corrosion in 5%wt. NaCl solutions at 4 °C and 10 MPa total
included in TABLE 7 for comparison, and its Tafel slope was calculated
following Equation (12). Although the corresponding β values for the V- pressure. It was found that a CO 2 :H 2 S ratio as high as 1000 was still
enough for sour corrosion to dominate in the conditions tested. The
H mechanism and the two-electron mechanism were within 0 to 1 as
shown in TABLE 7, they were very close to 0, especially for the two- H 2 S only and CO 2 +H 2 S conditions gave corrosion rates on the order of
electron mechanism. Thus, the cathodic mechanism was more likely to 0.05 mm y-1, whereas the corrosion rates in the CO 2 only condition
were on the order of 0.5 to 2 mm y-1.
Natural Gas and Oil), Dr. Kelly Rose and Dr. Jeffrey Hawk (NETL
The reaction mechanism was determined by the presence of H 2 S Research and Innovation Center) for programmatic direction and
even when its concentration was lower than CO 2 by three orders of technical support.
magnitude due to specific adsorption of H 2 S. The speciation modeling
indicated that CO 2 (aq) or H 2 S(aq) was the most dominant reactive
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1

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

Figure 4. Equivalent circuit used to fit EIS data.

S-135
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

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

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
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

Steel Gas LPR EIS Mass Loss Modeled


CO 2 0.418±0.074 0.429±0.061 0.590±0.019 2.19
S-135 CO 2 +H 2 S 0.0189±0.0070 0.0187±0.0080 0.0599±0.0147 2.36
H2S 0.0346±0.0042 0.0350±0.0050 0.0798±0.0143 0.0419
CO 2 1.82±0.16 1.49±0.27 1.77±0.32 2.19
UD-165 CO 2 +H 2 S 0.0334±0.0042 0.0328±0.0054 0.0877±0.0043 2.36
H2S 0.0510±0.0036 0.0515±0.0041 0.0678±0.0240 0.0419

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.

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