Abstract
Taraxacum officinale extract (TOE) has been tested for preventing the corrosion of cooling systems in desalination plants. The inhibition of corrosion effects has been characterized by chemical and electrochemical methods (Mass loss, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) and surface observations. Tests on cooling systems were carried out in seawater environment. The presence of TOE in the re-circulation loop decreases the corrosion of carbon steel by adsorption of TOE compounds on the surface of metal pipes. The optimum TOE concentration was reached at 400 mg L−1 and the inhibition efficiency was higher than 94%. TOE allowed increasing the energy barrier of the corrosion process. SEM, FT-IR and UV spectra observations confirmed that TOE prevents corrosion attacks at the surface of the pipes. HPLC analyses identified the presence of saccharides, organic acids, phenol antioxidant and caffeic acid derivatives in TOE, which may be the active promoters of corrosion inhibition.
Highlights
Taraxacum officinale extract (TOE) has been tested for preventing the corrosion of cooling systems in desalination plants
The current analysis of the TOE extract by HPLC shows the main compounds of the corrosion inhibitor (Fig. 1)
To characterize the adsorption process of TOE extract molecules on the carbon steel surface, we examined FTIR spectra of the scratched film formed on the carbon steel surface after electrode immersion in seawater solution containing TOE extract
Summary
Taraxacum officinale extract (TOE) has been tested for preventing the corrosion of cooling systems in desalination plants. A new bio-sourced extract has been investigated for the first time for preventing corrosion of carbon steel in aggressive environment (desalination plant conditions). This extract (TOE) was obtained from Taraxacum officinale, which is a compound used in Chinese medicine and in various modern pharmaceutical formulations[24,25]. Taraxacum officinale is well known for its antioxidant activity, having a high content of polyphenols such as sesquiterpene, lactones, phenylpropanoids, triterpenoid saponins and polysaccharides[26,27] Most of these compounds contain heteroatom (e.g., nitrogen and oxygen) and multiple bonds in their molecules; this may contribute to facilitate the adsorption of TOE at the surface of metal pipes. TOE can be considered innocuous in terms of ecological risks
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