Development of a green corrosion inhibitor for use in acid cleaning of MSF desalination plant

Abstract A green and cost-effective inhibitor based on Date palm leaves extract was formulated for use during acid cleaning of thermal desalination plants. The inhibitor formulation designated as F1 was tested against the corrosion of ferrous-based alloys namely: carbon steel, Ni-resist, and 316L stainless steel in 2% HCl solution at 40 °C under static and hydrodynamic conditions. Weight loss and electrochemical methods complemented with scanning electron microscopy were used in the study. Experiments were performed for 6, 24, and 72 h and the performance of F1 was compared with that of a commercial acid corrosion inhibitor. F1 exhibited excellent corrosion inhibition performance. Under static and dynamic conditions, 0.4% of F1 provided excellent corrosion inhibition up to 72 h and comparable to the commercial inhibitor performance. The inhibitors (F1 and the commercial one) exhibited a behavior typical of a mixed type corrosion inhibitor in the studied environment according to the potentiodynamic polarization. Results from cyclic potentiodynamic polarization experiments excluded pitting corrosion risk on the 316L stainless steel in the studied medium. Results from all applied techniques are in good agreement.