Corrosion Inhibition Page 1 of 2

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Corrosion Inhibition

Corrosion inhibitors, when carefully selected and conscientiously applied, can give a significant reduction of the
corrosion rate. In ideal situations, well-chosen inhibitors can achieve efficiencies of 99%.

In practice, the main factor for inhibitors to be less effective is that the reliability (or availability) of the injection is
seldom 100% and frequently much lower. Availability is defined as the percentage of operating time during which
inhibitor is injected at or above the minimum rate required for effective protection.

The corrosion during the uninhibited periods of time may quickly reaches uninhibited rates. In the model, the
corrosion rate is assumed to be the full uninhibited rate during these periods. For continuous inhibition, ECE allows
you to alter both the availability and efficiency of the corrosion inhibitor to test its effect on the overall corrosion
rate.

Note that in all cases, the inhibited corrosion rate per year output by ECE is the overall corrosion rate taking into
account periods with and without inhibition.

l Types of Inhibition: Two modes of inhibition are considered. In the case of flowlines only continuous inhibition
is appropriate. For tubing there is also the option of using squeeze inhibition. Here the inhibitor solution is
injected into the producing reservoir formation, and then slowly released into the produced oil. The inhibition
effect inside the tubing is then built up in about one month, and then reduces slowly in about 2 months. The
corrosion model adds the effect of consecutive squeezes for the calculation of the average corrosion rate per
year.

l Top-of-Line corrosion: In stratified gas-liquid multi-phase systems, conventional inhibitors are generally
unable to reliably protect the top part of the pipeline where fresh water may condenses. Inhibition is therefore
not applied to the Top-of-Line corrosion rate in ECE 5.x. It is possible that the corrosion at the top of the line
becomes decisive for the life of the line (for example where the bottom of the line rate is reduced by favourable
oil protection) and the addition of inhibitor cannot influence this. The presence of crude oil also does not reduce
the Top-of-the-Line corrosion rate.
l Inhibition in presence of H2S: Note that in the ECE model, the inhibition only reduces the overall corrosion
rate, but the Isolated Pitting line with H2S present in the Corrosion graph is not affected by the presence of
inhibitor. In practice, inhibition may have an effect on the likelihood of pitting occurring, although perhaps not
on the pitting rate if or when it does occur.

Reference:

B.F.M. Pots and E.L.J.A. Hendriksen, CO Corrosion under Scaling Conditions The Special Case of Top-Of-Line Corrosion in Wet Gas
2
Pipelines, NACE Corrosion 2000.

Related Topics
CO2 Corrosion Rate Model

Model Predictions

Acetic Acid

Risk of Failure

Erosion-Corrosion

Glycol Injection

Top-of-Line Corrosion

Flow Patterns

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Corrosion Inhibition Page 2 of 2

Condensation of Water

Influence of Crude Oil

pH and Water Chemistry

Effect of H2S

Influence of Carbonate Scales

For Support contact the ECE Development Team - Email: ece@intetech.com - Telephone: +44 (0) 1244 336386
Wood Group Intetech Ltd 2015

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