Octanoate grafted graphene oxide as an effective inhibitor against oil well acidizing corrosion

The acidizing of oil wells is an essential stimulation method to improve oil production. Acidizing involves the pumping of acid in oil and gas well bore to generate channels in the rocks and allow for oil to reach the well. Acidizing enhances oil production but at the same time exposes the well which is made of the carbon steel to the harsh and highly corrosive hot add. The employment of corrosion inhibitors is the most practical method for protecting steel from corrosion. Here, we have synthesized an environmentally friendly inhibitor, octanoate functionalized graphene oxide (SO-GO) and evaluate its corrosion efficacy against X60 carbon steel in 15% HCl solution (which simulates the oil wells acidizing environment) by weight loss (at 25, 40, 60 and 80 degrees C) and electrochemical (at 25 degrees C) measurement experiments. The inhibitor showed an efficiency of above 80% at temperatures 25, 40, and 60 *C in the weight loss measurement. The synthesized inhibitor was characterized by FT-IR, FT-Raman, TEM, and NMR techniques. Contact angle measurements, SEM/EDS, AFM surface morphology and FT-IR analyses provide evidence of the SO-GO molecules adsorption on the carbon steel surface to form a protective film that blocked steel surface from the add attack. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Acidizing is a method to enhance oil production but exposes carbon steel well to corrosion. Using an environmentally friendly corrosion inhibitor can effectively protect steel surface from corrosive attack.