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NK-0001

Project partner

China University of Petroleum (UPC) is amongst top 1% of Chinese universities (there are more than 5,000) and one of the top 3 universities of petroleum engineering, energy and chemical engineering in China. UPC cooperated with most of the Chinese oil and gas refining and exploration state companies and possesses crucial national laboratories for instrumental analysis and analytical chemistry, applied chemistry, and materials chemistry. School of Petroleum Engineering and the Key Laboratory of Oilfield Chemistry in the Shandong province are one of the most important faculties at the UPC.

Head of the partner research group Yefei Wang obtained his Ph.D. in oil & gas field development engineering at the UPC in 1998 and continued his postdoctoral studies at the company  Sinopec Shengli Oilfield Co Ltd in the city of Dongying, working at the second largest oilfield in China. He was dean of the Department of Oilfield Chemistry from 2009 to 2013 and vice president of the School of Petroleum Engineering from 2013 to 2017. His fields of expertise are oilfield fine chemical products, corrosion and protection, corrosion inhibitors, oilfield production and operation chemistry, chemical flooding and chemical treatment of production and injection wells. Yefei Wang is currently a professor and researcher at the Department of Oilfield Chemistry at the School of Petroleum Engineering, UPC. He is also the vice director of Shandong Key laboratory of Oilfield Chemistry.

Project Description

Aim of the proposed project is the development of corrosion-mitigating thin surface coatings (thin layers) on metallic materials using various surface treatment procedures. More specifically, development of environmentally friendly corrosion inhibitor formulations (CIFs) that protect steel materials against acid corrosion in oil and gas wells during the acidizing procedure and study of their mechanisms.

Despite tremendous efforts to develop efficient ways of using alternative energy sources, human demand for fossil fuels is still growing. Oil and natural gas account for 60% of all global energy demand. It is thus not expected that the conventional method of extracting fossil fuels will disappear within the next few decades. Since accidental discharges of the acidizing fluids into the environment might occur during the drilling process, concerns regarding environmental pollution and personnel safety continue to be a pressing issue.

Accidental discharges of drilling fluids occur in drilling applications even though a great deal of effort is devoted to preventative measures. Such accidents are particularly problematic when drilling is being performed on the sea floor and near groundwater sources. In the event of accidental discharges, application of a more environmentally acceptable acidizing solution would contribute to the preservation of marine life and drinking water for future generations. Moreover, hazard for the drilling crews would be drastically reduced.

The technology developed in this project is also applicable for acid decantation, pickling, industrial cleaning, acid descaling, and other processes that require the use of corrosion inhibitors for steel materials. It must be emphasized that the previously mentioned technologies are part of several different industrial processes, which is why such technological solutions would benefit many different companies. For example, steel pipelines corrode during the decantation of acids at elevated temperatures. Therefore, an appropriate (especially non-toxic) corrosion inhibitor formulation is required to prevent equipment failure.

Project Stages

  1. Selection or preparation of the corrosion inhibitor formulations (CIFs) for corrosion testing.
  2. Sample preparation, sample cleaning, selection of experimental parameters for immersion/autoclave and electrochemical tests.
  3. Screening of CIF performance using autoclaves with an inner liner made of Teflon. Investigation of corrosion inhibition mechanism on a molecular level.
  4. Surface roughness measurements, evaluation of pitting formation and the rate of pitting corrosion, analysis of surface morphology as well as the chemical composition of the adsorbed corrosion-inhibiting film.
  5. Characterization of CIF performance under sweet and sour conditions using gas/pressure controlled autoclaves.
  6. Concentration optimization for the CIFs found to be effective.
  7. Characterization of inhibition performance of CIFs, their film formation processes, and mechanism types using electrochemical measurements.
  8. Characterization of corrosion products and evaluation of thickness of protective surface layers, according to the results obtained in stage 3.
  9. Study of corrosion-induced cracking.
  10. Field tests.

References

  1. Xhanari, K., et al., A Review of Recent Advances in the Inhibition of Sweet Corrosion. The Chemical Record, 2021. 21(7): p. 1845-1875.
  2. Wang, Y., et al., Indolizine quaternary ammonium salt inhibitors: The inhibition and anti-corrosion mechanism of new dimer derivatives from ethyl acetate quinolinium bromide and n-butyl quinolinium bromide. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 2022. 651: p. 129649.
  3. Yang, Z., et al., Dimer Indolizine Derivatives of Quaternary Salt Corrosion Inhibitors: Enlightened High-Effective Choice for Corrosion Prevention of Steel in Acidizing. SPE Production & Operations, 2021. 36(01): p. 34-42.
  4. Yang, Z., et al. Novel High-Effective Component for Acidizing Corrosion Inhibitors: Indolizine Derivatives of the Quaternary Quinolinium Salts. in SPE Asia Pacific Oil & Gas Conference and Exhibition. 2020. OnePetro.
  5. Finšgar, M. and D. Čakara, Spectroscopic analysis and in situ adsorption of 2-mercaptobenzothiazole corrosion inhibitor on Zn from a chloride solution. Applied Surface Science, 2022. 606: p. 154843.
  6. Finšgar, M., Tandem GCIB-ToF-SIMS and GCIB-XPS analyses of the 2-mercaptobenzothiazole on brass. npj Materials Degradation, 2023. 7(1): p. 1.
  7. Kosec, T., et al., Exploring the protection mechanism of a combined fluoropolymer coating on sulphide patinated bronze. Progress in Organic Coatings, 2022. 172: p. 107071.
  8. Škrlep, L., et al., Properties of the fluoroacrylate and methacryloxypropyl-trimethoxysilane applied to a layer of Cu2O on bronze as either single or multi-component coatings. Progress in Organic Coatings, 2023. 177: p. 107440.
  9. Čakara, D., R. Peter, and M. Finšgar, Optical properties and formation kinetics of corrosion inhibitor films at the Cu/Cu2O/H2O interface. Surfaces and Interfaces, 2022. 32: p. 102108.
  10. Finšgar, M., 2-Phenylimidazole Corrosion Inhibitor on Copper: An XPS and ToF-SIMS Surface Analytical Study. Coatings, 2021. 11(8): p. 966.
  11. Tratnik, N., et al., Predicting Corrosion Inhibition Effectiveness by Molecular Descriptors of Weighted Chemical Graphs. Croatica Chemica Acta, 2021. 94(3): p. P1-P8.
  12. Xhanari, K. and M. Finšgar, Recent advances in the modification of electrodes for trace metal analysis: a review. Analyst, 2023.
  13. Finšgar, M. and B. Rajh, A Factorial Design and Simplex Optimization of a Bismuth Film Glassy Carbon Electrode for Cd(II) and Pb(II) Determination. Chemosensors, 2023. 11(2): p. 129.
  14. Pavko, L., et al., Correlating oxygen functionalities and electrochemical durability of carbon supports for electrocatalysts. Carbon, 2023. 215: p. 118458.
  15. Finšgar, M., Corrosion inhibitors for brass, corrosion inhibitors for acid stimulation procedure in oil and gas industry, and advanced instrumental analysis for corrosion studies: Lecture (via MS Teams). 2020: China University of Petroleum, School of Petroleum Engineering.
  16. Finšgar, M., Molecular-specific and elemental valence state analyses in corrosion inhibitor research : invited lecture at The 11th national Conference on Corrosion and Protection. 2021.
  17. Finšgar, M., et al., Correlation Between Electrochemical and Standard Testing of Aluminum Alloys, in Light Metals 2022. 2022, Springer. p. 283-288.
  18. Rantaša, M., D. Majer, and M. Finšgar, Preparation of Food Samples Using Homogenization and Microwave-Assisted Wet Acid Digestion for Multi-Element Determination with ICP-MS. JoVE, 2023(202): p. e65624.
  19. D. Mikić, M. Osrečak, M. Finšgar, A. Bafti, H. Otmačić Ćurković, The influence of bronze composition on the protective properties of phosphonic acid films, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 689 (2024) 133744.
  20. M. Finšgar, sln. Mešanica korozijskega inhibitorja na osnovi derivatov indolizina za kislinski postopek in metoda njegove priprave, in Maribor (Ed.) Slovenia, 2023.
  21. Y. Zhen, Y. Wang, M. Finšgar, J. Wang, M. Ding, Composite acidizing corrosion inhibitor compound based on indolizine derivative and preparation method of composite acidizing corrosion inhibitor compound, China National Intellectual Property Administration, 2024.