Laboratory Investigations of Corrosion and

Corrosion Inhibition in Oilfield Pipelines under

Flowing Conditions
Y. Chen, G. R. Ruschau and J. A. Beavers
CC Technologies, Inc.
6141 Avery Rd
Dublin, OH 43016, USA
Long distance pipelines are a critical part of the oil and
gas industry. Economic concerns prohibit the use of
corrosion resistant alloys for cross-country transmission
lines, so carbon and low alloy steels are used. Internal
corrosion control in carbon steel transmission lines can
be accomplished by complete removal of water from the
system. When this is not possible, such as in multiphase
oil and gas production pipelines, corrosion control is a
major concern.
Corrosion inhibitors play a key role in controlling
internal corrosion of these pipelines. It has been
established that the corrosion behavior and inhibitor
performance are highly dependent on the flow conditions
and chemistry. The reliability and success of the
laboratory evaluation of inhibitors will depend on having
a clear understanding of the operational conditions under
which the inhibitors are expected to perform.
The application of inhibitors to the pipelines can be occur
either as a batch injection, in which the inhibitor is
introduced in a large megadose, or by continuous
injection in which a controlled dose is used to maintain a
steady concentration of inhibitor. The performance of the
system, and the choice of application is largely based on
the film persistence of the inhibitor. By definition,
persistence is an ability of an inhibitor to resist
detachment from the surface it protects.
Some
continuous injection inhibitors can display excellent film
persistence under specific conditions, while for other
conditions a batch treatment is more effective. Flow
conditions often determine film persistence and therefore
dictate the method and chemistry of inhibition.
This investigation was focused on corrosion and
corrosion inhibition under flowing conditions. The
experiments were conducted in
(1) a Rotating Electrode Cylinder cell (RCE)
(2) a 25.4 mm I.D. 2 m long acrylic flow loop, and
(3) a 100 mm I.D. 20 m long acrylic flow loop
Experiments were carried out using ASTM substitute
saltwater, light hydrocarbon oil or field samples of crude
oil, and carbon dioxide gas. Corrosion measurements
were taken under differing flow conditions with varying
water cuts to simulate both multiphase production and
transmission pipelines.
Data were taken primarily by Electrical Impedance
Spectroscopy (EIS). A three-electrode arrangement was
used. In all cases, the working electrode was made of C1018 carbon steel. For the RCE system the counter
electrode was made of a graphite rod and the reference
electrode was made of a Standard Calomel Electrode
(SCE), while for flow loop systems the counter electrode
was 316 L stainless steel and reference electrode was a
platinum coated metallic rod. For the flow loops, all
electrodes were flush mounted at the bottom of the pipe.
Inhibitor film persistency was examined in both the RCE
and the small diameter flow loop systems. The working

electrode was first placed in the test inhibitor for the film
formation and transferred into an inhibitor-free test
solution. Inhibitor film performance and inhibition
mechanisms can be obtained by the means of equivalent
circuit models.
It was determined that electrochemical measurements of
corrosion rate in simulated transmission lines with very
low water cuts were very difficult due to lack of a
continuous electrolytic path between the working and
counter electrodes. Corrosion in flow loops simulating
very low water cuts are more easily measured with
weight loss coupons, which are less descriptive and do
not address film persistence.
In the higher water cuts, oilfield production pipeline
simulations, EIS is a very effective technique for
studying corrosion and inhibitor film persistence in
flowing conditions. It was found, not unexpectedly, that
a higher shear stress flow significantly increases the
corrosion rate and degrades the performance of inhibitor.
This work also examined effects of the nature of flow,
scale of flow loop, and presence of the oil phase on the
corrosion and inhibitor film behavior.
References
1.

Y. Chen, Study of Inhibition Mechanism of

Corrosion Inhibitors in Multiphase Flow Conditions
using Electrochemical Techniques, Ph. D
Dissertation, Ohio University, March, 2000.

2.

Y. Chen, et al., EIS Measurement for Corrosion

Monitoring under Multiphase Flow Conditions,
Electrochimica Acta, 44: (24), PP. 4453, 1999.

3.

S. Webster, et al., Corrosion Inhibitor Selection for

Oilfield pipelines, CORRSION/93, Paper 109,
1993.