Corrosion inhibitors for protecting oil and gas pipelines exhibit surface active behavior, and this surface activity affects not only their inhibition efficiency but also their ability to form and stabilize emulsions.
Even though interfacial phenomena play a vital role, the interfacial properties of corrosion inhibitors have not been extensively examined with respect to their effect on corrosion inhibition and water quality. The work presented here has been designed to address some of these issues. Corrosion inhibitors are known to partition between oil and water phases. The amount of inhibitor partitioning into the aqueous phase has been shown to be highly dependent upon the volume fraction of oil in the system. A significant quantity of inhibitor also adsorbs at the oil-water interface which results in a lowering of the interfacial tension. For certain highly surface active inhibitors the tension can be reduced...
Key words: corrosion inhibitor, tendency, inhibition performance
surface activity, partitioning, interfacial tension, emulsification