Corrosion behavior of austenitic stainless steels in CO2-saturated synthetic oil field formation water

Abstract

The corrosion behavior of austenitic and superaustenitic stainless steels was investigated in carbon dioxide-saturated synthetic oil field formation water using cyclic polarization tests. In order to measure the effect of carbon dioxide pressure, the samples were also exposed in a pressurized medium containing carbon dioxide and synthetic air. For this purpose, tests were performed for long exposure time at 80 °C under 8 MPa of a mixture of carbon dioxide and synthetic air both acting togethere. The results indicated that the type of corrosion on the surfaces of the samples after all the tests was pitting corrosion. According to the results, the AL-6XNPLUS™ steel presented the best performance in all experiments. The results also indicated that the conventional austenitic stainless steels are not suitable for the use in carbon dioxide containing environment in aqueous medium.