Effect of the Unsaturation of the Hydrocarbon Chain of Fatty-Amides on the CO2 Corrosion of Carbon Steel Using EIS and Real-Time Corrosion Measurement

Fatty-amide derivatives were evaluated to study the effect of the double bonds into the hydrocarbon chain (C18) on the corrosion behavior of carbon steel. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and real-time corrosion measurements were used to evaluate the inhibition mechanism of the fatty-amides on carbon steel in CO2-saturated (3% NaCl + 10% diesel) emulsion at 50°C. EIS results demonstrated that the unsaturation present into the hydrocarbon chain contributes to the efficiency of fatty-amides, because they can be adsorbed on the metal surface by a flat-adsorption process reducing the presence of active sites and blocking the corrosion process and preventing the diffusion of corrosive species, such as H2O, H+, Cl−, and HCO3-. Real-time corrosion measurements also indicated that the effectiveness of the inhibitors is dependent on the unsaturation into the hydrocarbon chain, being also a good technique to determine the stability of the adsorption process of the inhibitors.