A preliminary research on polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel: A slowly-released anti-corrosion and scale inhibitor

Scale and corrosion problems have become more and more serious during the process of oil production. Adding chemical inhibitors can be a best choice for treatment, especially for green inhibitors such as polyepoxysuccinic acid and imidazoline. However, liquid inhibitors are usually not satisfactory due to the high cost of fluid dosing system and the bad performance during the mixing process. These problems can be perfectly solved by solid corrosion and scale inhibitor which will be slowly released under control. As a release controller, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) has been widely used in medical fields. In addition, PVA hydrogel based inhibitor can be easily prepared. In the experimental results, our prescription has demonstrated excellent performance in terms of controlled-release and corrosion-scale inhibition. •Provided a long-term releasing inhibitor used in oilfields.•Presented a simple preparation of PVA hydrogel based corrosion-scale inhibitor.•Carried out a kinetic study of PVA matrix at different temperature.•Both modified PESA and imidazoline are green water treatment agents.•The PVA matrix is non-toxic, biocompatible and cheap.