Electrochemical Corrosion Measurements of MEA Aqueous Solutions at Elevated Temperatures

Corrosion can cause serious problems to amine treating plants as it can lead to unexpected downtime, production loss, and even personnel injury. This work utilizes electrochemical method to study the corrosion behavior of C1018 mild steel in aqueous solutions of monoethanolamine (MEA) upon addition of carbon dioxide (CO2) as well as nitric acid at temperatures of 25 °C to 80 °C. Solvent pH decreased upon temperature increase and CO2 loading, while the corrosion rates were most influenced by solvent temperature as both anodic and cathodic reaction rates increased. Addition of nitric acid gave a similar pH and corrosion rate as the addition of CO2 on a molar basis. Solvent rich in CO2 was found to have similar corrosivity as lean MEA despite the lower pH of solvent.