Abstract
A research project was conducted to investigate the effect of a high salt concentration on corrosion from low partial pressures of hydrogen sulfide (H2S). The main objective was to study if the high concentration of chloride could initiate localized attack in this type of H2S system. Experiments were conducted in a nitrogen-purged system with a trace amount of H2S (50 ppm) in the gas phase. Only weight loss was used to measure corrosion rates. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive x-ray (EDX) methods were used to characterize the corrosion products. Experimental results show that a high salt concentration significantly slowed down the reaction rate in H2S corrosion. Some pitting attack was found both in salt-free and high salt conditions, but experimental results did not show evidence that chlorides can initiate localized corrosion in low pH2S systems.
