Study of the Effect of Crude Oils on the Metallic Corrosion

Abstract

Corrosion is a severe matter regarding the most of metal using industries such as the crude oil refining. The formation of the oxides, sulfides or hydroxides on the surface of metal due to the chemical reaction between metals and surrounding is the corrosion that highly depended on the corrosive properties of crude oil as well as the chemical composition of ferrous metals since it was expected to investigate the effect of Murban and Das blend crude oils on the rate of corrosion of seven different ferrous metals which are used in the crude oil refining industry and investigate the change in hardness of metals. The sulfur content, acidity and salt content of each crude oil were determined. A series of similar pieces of seven different types of ferrous metals were immersed in each crude oil separately and their rates of corrosion were determined by using their relative weight loss after 15, 30 and 45 days. The corroded metal surfaces were observed under the microscope. The hardness of each metal piece was tested before the immersion in crude oil and after the corrosion with the aid of Vicker’s hardness tester. The metallic concentrations of each crude oil sample were tested using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). The Das blend crude oil contained higher sulfur content and acidity than Murban crude oil. Carbon steel metal pieces showed the highest corrosion rates whereas the stainless-steel metal pieces showed the least corrosion rates in both crude oils since that found significant Fe and Cu concentrations from some of crude oil samples. The mild steel and the Monel showed relatively intermediate corrosion rates compared to the other types of ferrous metal pieces in both crude oils. There was a slight decrease in the initial hardness of all the ferrous metal pieces due to corrosion.