Corrosion Inhibitors in the Oil and Gas Industry

Viswanathan S. Saji, Saviour A. Umoren, Viswanathan S. Saji, Saviour A. Umoren

• Publisher: Wiley-VCH
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9783527346189
• eBook ISBN: 9783527822133
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Fossil Fuels
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Provides comprehensive coverage of corrosion inhibitors in the oil and gas industries

Considering the high importance of corrosion inhibitor development for the oil and gas sectors, this book provides a thorough overview of the most recent advancements in this field. It systematically addresses corrosion inhibitors for various applications in the oil and gas value chain, as well as the fundamentals of corrosion inhibition and interference of inhibitors with co-additives.

Corrosion Inhibitors in the Oil and Gas Industries is presented in three parts. The first part on Fundamentals and Approaches focuses on principles and processes in the oil and gas industry, the types of corrosion encountered and their control methods, environmental factors affecting inhibition, material selection strategies, and economic aspects of corrosion. The second part on Choice of Inhibitors examines corrosion inhibitors for acidizing processes, inhibitors for sweet and sour corrosion, inhibitors in refinery operations, high-temperature corrosion inhibitors, inhibitors for challenging corrosive environments, inhibitors for microbiologically influenced corrosion, polymeric inhibitors, vapor phase inhibitors, and smart controlled release inhibitor systems. The last part on Interaction with Co-additives looks at industrial co-additives and their interference with corrosion inhibitors such as antiscalants, hydrate inhibitors, and sulfide scavengers.

-Presents a well-structured and systematic overview of the fundamentals and factors affecting corrosion
-Acts as a handy reference tool for scientists and engineers working with corrosion inhibitors for the oil and gas industries
-Collectively presents all the information available on the development and application of corrosion inhibitors for the oil and gas industries
-Offers a unique and specific focus on the oil and gas industries

Corrosion Inhibitors in the Oil and Gas Industries is an excellent resource for scientists in industry as well as in academia working in the field of corrosion protection for the oil and gas sectors, and will appeal to materials scientists, electrochemists, chemists, and chemical engineers.

Part I
Fundamentals and Approaches

1
An Overview of Corrosion in Oil and Gas Industry: Upstream, Midstream, and Downstream Sectors

Yahya T. Al-Janabi

Research and Development Center, Saudi Aramco, Dhahran, 31311, Saudi Arabia

1.1 Introduction

The oil and gas industry is normally divided into three major components: upstream, midstream, and downstream. The upstream sector explores, locates, and produces crude oil and natural gas from both underground and underwater fields, which are referred to as onshore and offshore fields, respectively. For this, the upstream sector is sometimes referred to as exploration and production (E&P). Types of wells handled in the upstream sector include oil, gas, and water. The midstream sector involves the transportation (by pipeline, rail, barge, oil tanker, or truck), processing, storage, and wholesale marketing of crude or refined petroleum products. Pipelines and other transport systems are used to move crude oil and natural gas from production sites to refineries and petrochemical plants. Natural gas pipeline networks gather gas from natural gas producing wells and from separation and purification plants and deliver it to downstream sector and customers, such as local utilities. Midstream operations often overlap with some elements of the upstream and downstream sectors. For example, the midstream sector may encompass natural gas processing plants that purify the raw natural gas as well as removing and producing elemental sulfur and natural gas liquids (NGLs). The third component is the downstream sector that includes crude oil refineries, petrochemical plants, and petroleum products distribution. One major component of the downstream sector is the refining of crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet, and other fuels. In addition, the downstream industry provides thousands of products such as jet fuel, heating oil, asphalt, lubricants, synthetic rubber, plastics, fertilizers, antifreeze, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, natural gas, and propane.

At the early stages of crude oil production from a newly discovered field, the produced fluids streams are normally dry. Water, however, is required for corrosion to occur at low temperatures. As a result, the majority of equipment used in oil production were conveniently constructed from the relatively low cost carbon steel that has the required strength for pressure containment. It is very common that the life of these installations exceed 50 years without the need to apply any corrosion control measure as long as the streams remain dry or dominated by the hydrocarbon phase. Nothing remains the same with the passage of time. As oil and gas fields matured, the amount of produced water increased either naturally or due to recovery by waterflooding, for example. This increase in water content called for employing an effective and practically easy to apply corrosion control method.

Corrosion inhibition has been the method of choice that allowed production from fields that were about to be abandoned because of the increase in corrosion activity. The accumulated experience of using carbon steel with corrosion inhibition encouraged extending this approach even to environments with aggressive corrosion conditions such as wells with higher H₂S contents. Batch and continuous corrosion inhibitor treatments became two of the most common methods to control internal corrosion of carbon steel piping and equipment in oil and gas production, transportation, and processing. A large number of commercial corrosion inhibitors are available, and new products are being continuously developed by chemical manufacturers. Several international standards have been developed [1] and are being developed [2] for corrosion inhibitor evaluation and selection.

Corrosion encountered in the production of oil and gas is very costly and it involves direct and indirect costs associated with lost time, the replacement of materials of construction, and the continuous involvement of personnel in corrosion management as well as safety and environmental consequences. In 2016, NACE International released the “International Measures of Prevention, Application and Economics of Corrosion Technology (IMPACT)” study, which estimates the global cost of corrosion to be approximately US$2.5 trillion. The study reviewed cost of corrosion studies performed by several countries including, Australia, China, Finland, Germany, India, Japan, Kuwait, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Based on these studies, the annual corrosion costs in each nation ranged from approximately 1–5% of their gross national product (GNP). These studies do not include the cost of corrosion failures consequences on safety and environment. The IMPACT study found that significant savings between 15% and 35% of the cost of damage can be realized by implementing corrosion control practices that are equivalent to reducing the global corrosion cost by US$375–875 billion annually.

1.2 Corrosion in Upstream Production Ope...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Part I: Fundamentals and Approaches
• Part II: Choice of Inhibitors
• Part III: Interaction with Co-additives
• Index
• End User License Agreement