Pomegranate Aqueous Extract (PAE) as an Eco-Friendly Inhibitor for Carbon Steel Used in Sanitation Plants: Kinetics and Bacteria Effect

This study examines the use of pomegranate aqueous extract (PAE) for improvement of corrosion resistance of carbon steel (CS) in polluted NaCl solution (3.5% NaCl and 16 ppm Na2S). Mass loss, potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and electrochemical frequency modulation measurements were employed to study the corrosion behavior of CS in polluted NaCl solution. These electrochemical measurements improved that the presence of PAE decreased the corrosion rate, corrosion current densities (icorr), and double-layer capacities (Cdl). The inhibition efficiency (% IE) increases with the increase of extract concentration. The extract molecules were adsorbed physically on the metal surface following Temkin adsorption isotherm. The CS surface was analyzed by different techniques. The biological study of the extract on Escherichia coli activity showed that this extract can be applied safely without any harmful effect on the bacterial activity.