Experiments were carried out with pure iron and carbon steels in CO2 containing brine in the temperature range 25-70°C. The anodic dissolution of iron takes place by two different mechanisms. Low pH and low corrosion rates favored dissolution in the “active” state. This process is charge transfer controlled and has a Tafel slope of 30-50 mV/decade. The reaction rate at a given potential increased about proportiomlly with the hydroxyl concentration. A change in the dissolution mechanism took place at a pH about 4 to so called “prepassive” dissolution. This process is little influenced by pH, but affected by agitation of the solution. The steels followed the same trend. However, the anodic dissolution rate at a given potential and pH differed for the various steels to a factor of three compared with pure iron. The response of the current density to an instantaneous pH change was sluggish. This and other observations support the view that the anodic dissolution of iron is controlled by species adsorbed at the metal surface. Also the kinetics of the cathodic liberation of hydrogen is complex and varies significantly with the test conditions. The reaction rate is hardly 100% activation controlled under any conditions of practical interest and is seldom purely diffusion controlled. Tests with ten different carbon steels showed that both the anodic- and cathodic reaction rates at a given potential exhibited large variations with composition and structure of the steels. The behaviour of a steel at low pH gives little guidance for its performance at high pH. The parameters responsible for the individual behaviour of the steels were not identified.
Keywords. CO2 corrosion, carbon steel, electrochemistry, corrosion mechanism.