Chemical, electrochemical and morphology studies of three di-cationic amphiphiles and their applications: Corrosion inhibitors for carbon steel in formation water during gas and oil production and as broad antimicrobial agents against standard microbial strains

Abstract

In the present work, the previously synthesized di-cationic amphiphiles surfactants have displayed an excellent surface attitude in formation water, according to surface tension findings. The three di-cationic amphiphiles surfactants (CSI, CSII, and CSIII) were tested as corrosion inhibitors for carbon steel (CS) in the formation water during gas and oil production using weight loss (WL), Tafel polarization (TP) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and surface morphology using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The obtained results demonstrated that the di-cationic amphiphiles surfactants are good corrosion inhibitors in the formation water.As the concentration of the inhibitors increased, the effectiveness of the dissuasion increased. The Tafel polarization results showed that, corrosion current densities (icorr) decreased whereas inhibition effecenicy (ηp) increased as the inhibitor concentration increased. EIS results showed that, the constant phase element (CPE) values decreased and the polarization resistance (RP) values increased with increasing the inhibitor concentrations. SEM & AFM photos exhibited a good CS surface in presence of the CSI, CSII & CSIII in opposite of the absence of them. Furthermore, the three di-cationic amphiphiles surfactants (CSI, CSII, and CSIII) were applied as broad antimicrobial agents against standard microbial strains (bacterial and candida strains). Results demonstrated a great broad antimicrobial activity of the three di-cationic amphiphiles surfactants with a zone of inhibitions ranging from (15–30) mm for the bacterial strains and (25–30) mm for the candida standard stain in comparison to the positive control antimicrobial agents. Moreover, the CSI, CSII & CSIII have displayed the highest antibacterial efficiency against the Gram-positive (27–30 mm) than the Gram-negative bacterial strains (15–19 mm).