Inhibition of carbon steel corrosion in CO2-saturated brine using some newly surfactants based on palm oil: Experimental and theoretical investigations

New surfactants from the type of fatty acids derivatives were synthesized based on palm oil and their inhibitive action against the corrosion of carbon steel in CO2-saturated 1% NaCl solution were investigated at 50 degrees C. The detailed study of surfactants as corrosion inhibitors is given using polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy methods. The inhibition efficiencies obtained from the two employed methods are nearly closed. Results show that, the investigated surfactants are good inhibitors and its inhibition efficiency reaches to 98.95% at 100 ppm for inhibitor V. The high inhibition efficiencies were attributed to the simple blocking effect by adsorption of inhibitor molecules on the steel surface. The surface activity of the synthesized surfactant solutions was determined using surface tension measurements at 25 degrees C. Adsorption of the inhibitors on the carbon steel surface was found to obey Langmuir's adsorption isotherm and chemisorption. The correlation between the inhibition efficiencies of the studied surfactants and their molecular structures has been investigated using quantum chemical calculations. The obtained theoretical results have been supported our experimental data. Crown Copyright (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.