Toward a bio-based hybrid inhibition of gas hydrate and corrosion for flow assurance

Abstract

The development of a hybrid inhibition of corrosion and gas hydrate formation in offshore oil and gas fields is the main object of this study. Sunflower oil was used as an inexpensive and environmentally friendly resource for synthesizing a dual function inhibitor to prevail incompatibility difficulty between anti-hydrate and anti-corrosion reagents. The results of hydrate inhibition experiments revealed that phosphorylated waterborne polyurea/urethane (Ph-WPUU) can significantly reduce the average onset temperature and delay the induction time of hydrate nucleation compared to pure water. Besides, the constant value of torque at the 100 and 60% water-cuts with decane phase and foam-like methane-propane hydrate formed in the presence of Ph-WPUU occurred. This may indicate mitigation of hydrate particles agglomeration. On the other hand, the Ph-WPUU showed corrosion inhibition efficiency around 96% at 700 ppm concentration. Moreover, the quantum chemical study revealed that the presence of the triglyceride group of sunflower oil in the Ph-WPUU structure plays an effective role as an active site to interact with the carbon steel surface. These results indicate that the application of Ph-WPUU provides a bio-based strategy to develop and design single polymer molecules that exhibit both hydrate and corrosion inhibition, and this approach refers to the terms of green chemistry.