A review on environmental benign polyepoxysuccinic acid-based inhibitor for carbon steel in seawater environment

Polyepoxysuccinic acid polymer is a non-phosphorous, non-toxic, nitrogen-free and environmentally friendly compound that serves as a good alternative to toxic inorganic and organic corrosion and scale inhibitors. Polyepoxysuccinic acid contains carboxylic and ether groups that can effectively adsorb on metal surfaces and exhibits potential corrosion as well as scale inhibition. The presence of reactive carboxylic group in polyepoxysuccinic acid can be modified through the chemical reaction to enhance its anti-corrosion and anti-scaling properties. The sodium salt of carboxylic group of polyepoxysuccinic acid shows the effective nucleophilic nature that is helpful for carry out different chemical modification on polyepoxysuccinic acid basically nucleophilic addition reaction on C=S, C=C, C=O containing different organic molecules. However, the development of high temperature corrosion inhibitor is challenging, most of polymers fail to show the effective corrosion and scale inhibition at high temperatures. This paper discusses the progress in the development of environmentally benign polyepoxysuccinic acid-based corrosion and scale inhibitor. The paper also discussed the corrosion and scale formation in seawater and corrosion and scale control methods. The synthesis and mechanism of different polyepoxysuccinic acid derivatives as a corrosion inhibitor are reviewed and thoroughly deliberated in this paper. Along with conclusions, the future prospective of polyepoxysuccinic acid based environmentally benign inhibitor was also discussed.