Corrosion in alkanolamine used for acid gas removal: From natural gas processing to CO₂ capture

Abstract

International audienceThe aim of this paper is to review some of the parameters influencing the corrosivity of alkanolamine solvents used for natural gas purification or for CO2 capture. In the light of literature data and of new experimental results, the influences of temperature and of acid gas loading are discussed. These two parameters appear to have a strong impact on corrosion rates of carbon steel, with extrapolated corrosion rates of several tens of mm/year for the highest temperature and acid gas loading condition

Corrosion in CO2Post-Combustion Capture with Alkanolamines – A Review

“…The electrochemical behaviour of carbon steel in 30% MEA solution at 80°C for different levels of CO 2 loading is illustrated in Figure 2. These results were taken in [52], where a detailed description of experimental conditions can be found. These curves are typical of an active corrosion behaviour.…”

“…The impact of amine concentration was studied in [21, 25,52]. At constant CO 2 loading, a weak increase of corrosion rate is observed when the MEA concentration is raised from 6 to 30% [25].…”

“…At constant CO 2 loading, a weak increase of corrosion rate is observed when the MEA concentration is raised from 6 to 30% [25]. At higher Typical polarization curves of carbon steel in MEA at different CO 2 loading (results taken in reference [52]). …”

“…concentration, between 30% and 55% MEA, polarisation curves show very similar corrosion rates [21,52]. This weak impact of MEA concentration on corrosion might sound contradictory with past experience of natural gas treatment, where a classical rule-of-thumb indicates that MEA should not exceed 20-30% [15,53].…”

“…As expected, the rate of electrochemical reactions increases with temperature. Both the cathodic and anodic reactions are affected [21, 25,52,54]. This result is a typical consequence of thermally activated electrochemical reactions.…”