Development of environmentally benign corrosion inhibitors for organic acid environments for oil-gas industry

Organic acids are used in the oil and gas industry in the production process as scale dissolvers. These acids are pumped into the formations to stimulate the oil recovery. Since these organic acids are quite corrosive, corrosion inhibitors are normally introduced to these environments to minimize damage to the underlying metal surface. However, most of the existing inhibitor chemistries are considerably toxic, are difficult to synthesize, and are costly. In the recent years, a number of alternatives are proposed that are not only cost effective, but are environmentally safer as well. This review article aims to collect the literature on the eco-friendly corrosion inhibitors reported for organic acid environment. An overview of corrosion, its economic impact with emphasis to the issues in organic acid environment are discussed with the literature available on the existing inhibitors. Importance of the environment-friendly corrosion inhibitors is outlined. A discussion on the influence of molecular structure on the inhibition behavior of these inhibitors is provided.