Experimental study on corrosion of 20# steel in oil-water stratified liquids based on wire beam electrode technique

Purpose Oil-water two-phase flow is the most prevalent medium in oil field gathering pipelines, and the corrosion of pipelines is often highly localized. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the corrosion behavior of 20# pipeline steel in the oil-water stratified liquids, vary the water content of the upper emulsion and study the difference of the corrosion process. Design/methodology/approach Combine the wire beam electrodes (WBE) technique and the corrosion weight loss method to investigate the corrosion behavior of 20# steel in produced water simulation fluid and oil-water stratified liquids, and a corrosion mechanism model was established for analysis and explanation. Findings The results of mass loss experiments showed that the average corrosion rate increased with the increase in the water content of the upper emulsion. The corrosion current distribution maps indicated that the most serious corrosion occurred in the produced water simulation liquid, and the corrosion process showed the law of waterline corrosion. In addition, it was also found that the corrosion of the WBE in the stratified liquids had obvious non-uniformities. The electrode wires at the oil-water interface suffered from severe corrosion, caused by the dissolution of crude oil acids in water and the uneven distribution of oxygen in the corrosive medium. Originality/value The WBE technique provides a deep insight into the corrosion phenomena at the oil-water interface, which is helpful for characterization of the non-uniformity of corrosion parameters and evaluating the risks of multiphase corrosive media.