Study on corrosion mechanism and its influencing factors of a short distance intermittent crude oil transmission and distribution pipeline

Abstract Based on the characteristics of short transmission and distribution distance, large fluctuation angle and intermittent operation, the corrosion of pipelines of crude oil storage and transportation unit transporting crude oil to refinery processing units in refineries is unique. In this paper, field data collection, fluid simulation analysis and coupon simulation experiments were carried out to study the corrosion of oil pipelines. It was found that sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) corrosion induced by scaling on the surface of the pipeline was the main mechanism leading to the continuous corrosion perforation of the pipeline, and its induced tendency was related to the chemical composition of the bottom water of the tank and the oil flow rate. Furthermore, if the water had a strong tendency to scale, increasing the oil flow rate would increase the tendency of SRB. The inhibitor was not suitable for controlling the corrosion of this type of pipeline, since it only increased the scaling tendency and the risk of SRB would increase.