Anti-corrosion, antiscalant and anti-microbial performance of some synthesized trimeric cationic imidazolium salts in oilfield applications

• Two trimeric cationic imidazolium salts have been synthesized and characterized. • Two imidazolium salts were used to inhibit corrosion, scaling and as biocides against bacteria, fungi and SRB. • Electrochemical results were confirmed by SEM/EDX analysis. • Trimeric cationic imidazolium salts were good mixed-type corrosion inhibitors for N80 type carbon steel in oilfields. • Theoretical insilico calculations showed good agreement with experimental data. In this study, two trimeric cationic imidazolium salts (APMI and APBI) were synthesized, characterized, and evaluated as tri-functional chemicals i.e. anti-microbial, antiscalant, and anti-corrosion for N80 type steel in oilfield formation water to simulate the oilfield produced water reinjection conditions for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The results of the EIS method revealed that the corrosion inhibition efficiencies, for APMI and APBI were 86.79 % and 90.47 % at 200 ppm, respectively. The potentiodynamic polarization method (PDP) showed that the two salts acted as mixed type inhibitors. The investigated imidazolium salts obeyed Langmuir adsorption isotherm. SEM and EDX analyses provided the appearance of an inhibitor layer encapsulating the surface of N80 type steel. In addition, the anti-scale property of the prepared imidazolium salts against CaCO 3 and CaSO 4 was also investigated via static scale precipitation tests. The data revealed that the scale inhibition effectiveness improved by increasing the doses of these imidazolium salts. The imidazolium salts were evaluated for their antibacterial activities and exhibited good biological performance against the growth of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) during petroleum processing operations. Finally, the results obtained from theoretical calculations support our experimental studies.