The presence of CO₂, sand, and water in oil and gas reservoirs causes erosion–corrosion leading to material degradation in pipelines and fluid handling equipment that results in increasing maintenance and repair costs and a decrease in production. While the weight loss caused by erosion–corrosion is known to depend on flow velocity, angle of impact, sand loading and size and target material properties, field operators often limit the flow rate based on a critical corrosion velocity to protect the equipment. This study investigates the effects of sand loading and flow velocity on weight loss associated with erosion–corrosion in a mild steel sample using a submerged impingement jet. The weight loss by erosion, corrosion and their interaction for a flow velocity range of 10 m/s to 20 m/s and sand loading range of 300 mg/L to 600 mg/L, in a seawater environment, are presented. The results showed that the weight loss by pure erosion and erosion–corrosion interaction increases linearly with jet velocity and sand loading, and that erosion is dominant in all cases except at low velocity and sand loading. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) images after impingement tests were analyzed. In addition, correlations for the velocity and sand loading were derived using the design of experiment method (DOE).

Limited studies have been conducted on the effect of a magnetic field on the corrosion behavior of steels. Investigating the effect on pipeline material in the oil and gas industries will be beneficial regarding corrosion prediction and control. In this work, the effect of a magnetic field on the corrosion process of API 5L X65 carbon steel was investigated in a well-developed flow loop using potentiodynamic polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Using permanent magnets and a well-designed corrosion electrode set-up, the corrosion mechanism of API 5L X65 steel was studied at different magnetic orientations and different flow conditions in a NaCl solution. The surface morphology of the corroded samples was studied using a scanning electron microscope, and the micro-morphologies of the corrosion deposits and the surface elemental composition were analyzed. The results show that the presence of a magnetic field increases the corrosion rate of API 5L X65 carbon steel, and that flow velocities and magnetic orientation have a significant influence on the anodic corrosion current. The results of the polarization curves indicate a negative shift in the Tafel curve, leading to an increase in the corrosion rate with the introduction of a magnetic field in the flow system. The results of the EIS show that the charge transfer rate is decreased when a magnetic field is applied. This work provides important direction in terms of the understanding of the combined effect of magnetism and flow on the corrosion in pipelines used in the oil and gas industries.

This study examines microstructural modification as an effective strategy for reducing corrosion and its impact on the mechanical properties of mild steel. The effect of heat treatment on morphology, strength, toughness, and ductility was studied using optical microscopy, SEM, Scherrer equation, Vickers’s hardness test, and tensile-strength measurement. The heat treatment changed the microstructures, grain sizes, and particle sizes of the samples. It also increased the material strength by 56% and 25% for the quenched and tempered samples, respectively. The hardness was increased to 95% by quenching. The effect of the microstructural changes on the corrosion rate in chlorine-rich and chlorine-free media at different pH was studied using linear-polarization-resistance and dynamic-polarization-resistance methods. In both media, the quenched samples showed a lower corrosion rate compared to the original and tempered samples. The heat treatment resulted in the formation of homogenous martensite with coarse grains and small particle sizes that seemed to reduce the corrosion rate significantly. It also had an impact on the corrosion mechanism of these materials. The original and tempered samples showed pitting-corrosion behavior with high corrosion rates, while the quenched samples were more susceptible to intergranular corrosion. The rate of corrosion was investigated further at different pH, and it was shown to decrease when the pH was raised. This study confirms the impact of microstructural changes on the corrosion behavior of S275 structural steel.

A sensor for monitoring of the external corrosion of small-diameter aboveground oil and gas pipelines (called flowlines), based on fiber-optic strain sensing, is proposed. The working principle of our proposed sensor relies on the use of a pre-stressed sacrificial structure made of the same material as the pipeline and monitoring changes in the measured strain that occur due to deterioration caused by corrosion to the structure. We present the development of analytical equations that allow designing the sensor structure to achieve the desired strain values. The analysis was verified using commercial finite element analysis (FEA) software. The proposed sensor is simple and cost-effective and can be easily manufactured. It can be deployed on existing overground pipelines without any modification to the pipeline structure. While it is not capable of measuring the corrosion rate continuously, it can provide a measurement of the average corrosion rate over the life span of its sacrificial metal structure.