CO2 corrosion is a major problem in the industry as it led to significant production losses and costly shut downs.
The CO2 corrosion leads to the formation of solid FeCO3. The FeCO3 layer creates a protective barrier for further corrosion of pipelines and equipment. In order to predict the corrosion we need to understand the solubility of FeCO3 at different process parameter such as e.g. temperature, pressure, salt and brines. The solubility of FeCO3 is not well described in the literature.
FeCO3 is not commercially available. It needs to be synthesised under anoxic conditions in a sealed glove box as it oxidizes to magnetite and hematite in low oxygen environment.
The overall objectives of this project is to create a new fundamental understanding of FeCO3 solubility which will lead to better corrosion models, better prediction of corrosion rate, and better scale formation kinetics understanding.
The aim is to be measuring FeCO3 solubility at high temperature (>100°C) and CO2 pressure under anaerobic conditions. Furthermore, the impact from ions, e.g. Na+, Cl- etc. will be investigated on the FeCO3 solubility.