Operando Characterisation of Sweet Corrosion Scale: Impact of Corrosion Inhibitors

CO2(aq)-induced corrosion of energy infrastructure, including geothermal plant, is of huge concern, as it significantly increases the probability of failure. On this basis, much effort is directed towards controlling this phenomenon, with a go-to option being the addition of organic species, corrosion inhibitors, that reduce corrosion through surface binding. This technology is well established, although surface-active selection remains largely a trial-and-error procedure, due to a lack of mechanistic insight. For example, concerning CO2(aq)-induced corrosion, detailed understanding of the interaction between solid corrosion scale (rust) and injected corrosion inhibitors is simply absent. This proposal will address this issue through coupling quantification of scale growth with grazing incidence X-ray diffraction to electrochemical measurement of corrosion kinetics. Operando data will be acquired as a function of immersion time, in the absence/presence of a corrosion inhibitor.