Designing of new sweet corrosion inhibitors for oil Gas industry: Experimental and computational approach

The corrosion of the internal surfaces of pipelines is one of the most serious corrosion issues facing the oil and gas industry. The produced oil and gas contain brines along with carbon dioxide (sweet gas), hydrogen sulphide (sour gas) and organic acids. These aggressive environments are known to create corrosion issues in downhole completions during production, especially for sweet gas wells with high temperature, high pressure and produced water containing high total dissolved solid (TDS). Further, with increase in the depth of oil and gas wells there is a concomitant increase in the operating temperatures and pressures. Few corrosion inhibitor chemistry can withstand this aggressive environment. Saudi Arabia has an inherent corrosion problem. The King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) and its associated Research Institute have been battling against this powerful enemy. The corrosion protection of steel structures has always been of chief concern for current research and development in Saudi Arabia as the country faces severe corrosion issues due to its huge economical and industrial development in the coastal zones. The yearly expenses due to corrosion issues on the gross national product (GNP) of the Kingdom is estimated to be about US$ 19.95 billion and it is anticipated that the total cost of corrosion in the Kingdom will rise in the upcoming years. Aqueous carbon dioxide (CO2) corrosion is a serious issue in oil and gas production industry. CO2 after reacting with water forms carbonic acid (H2CO3) after reaction, which attacks carbon steel (carbon steel and tubular steels). This has been known for many decades, yet aqueous CO2 corrosion of carbon steel remains a significant problem for the oil and gas industry. To control the corrosion of carbon steel and tubular steels such as N80, L80 etc., corrosion inhibitors are added. We herein, propose the synthesis of pyrimidine derivatives, amino acid derivatives and chemically modified biopolymers that can be used as environmentally friendly corrosion inhibitors for carbon steel and tubular steels such as N80, L80 in 3.5% NaCl saturated with CO2. The evaluation of corrosion inhibition will be carried out using weight loss method, electrochemical measurements and surface analysis. The experimental results will be validated using the computational studies.