Evaluation of Corrosion Inhibitor Film Persistency by Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS)

Abstract Film persistency of commercially available oilfield corrosion inhibitors has been evaluated in CO2-saturated 5% sodium chloride solution using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The effect of inhibitor concentration and contact time on inhibitor film persistency was also investigated. This study demonstrates that EIS is a feasible method for evaluating and ranking inhibitor film persistency and can be used to monitor inhibitor film life. EIS can provide the corrosion rate and characteristics of the inhibited film and generate the parameters related to the specific inhibitor film. It was found that there is an excellent correlation between an EIS parameter, namely the high breakpoint frequency at a 45° phase angle and inhibitor film persistency. The identification of this correlation, for which Chevron has been granted a patent, is significant because there are advantages associated with measuring this parameter. This discovery enables EIS to be used in the field to monitor and optimize corrosion inhibition programs, thus reducing the chemical and operation costs.