The chromium (Cr) content of stainless steel originates from recycled scrap and/or ferrochrome (FeCr), which is mainly produced by the carbothermic reduction of chromite ore. Ever-increasing pressure on FeCr producers to curtail carbon emissions justifies migration from traditional FeCr production routes. The interaction between hydrogen and chromite only yields water, foregoing the generation of significant volumes of CO-rich off-gas during traditional smelting procedures. For this reason, the use of hydrogen as a chromite reductant is proposed. In addition to thermodynamic modelling, the influence of temperature, time, and particle size on the reduction of chromite by hydrogen was investigated. It was determined that, at the explored reduction parameters, the iron (Fe)-oxides presented in chromite could be metalized and subsequently removed by hot-acid leaching. The Cr-oxide constituency of chromite did not undergo appreciable metalization. However, the removal of Fe from the chromite spinel allowed the formation of eskolaite with the composition of (Cr_1.4Al_0.6)O₃ in the form of an exsolved phase, which may adversely affect the reducibility of chromite. The study includes the limitations of incorporating hydrogen as a reductant into existing FeCr production infrastructure and proposes possible approaches and considerations.

Due to the depletion of high-grade fuels and for economic reasons, use of residual fuel oil in energy generation systems is a common practice. Residual fuel oil contains sodium, vanadium, and sulphur as impurities, as well as NaCl contamination. Metallic dissolution caused by molten vanadates has been classically considered the main corrosion process involved in the degradation of alloys exposed to the combustion products of heavy fuel oils. Iron and nickel base alloys are the commercial alloys commonly used for the high temperature applications, for example, manufacture of components used in aggressive environments of gas turbines, steam boilers, and so forth. Therefore, because the main constituents of these materials are Fe, Cr, and Ni, where Cr is the element responsible for providing the corrosion resistance, in this study the electrochemical performance of Fe, Cr, and Ni in NaVO₃at 700°C in static air for 100 hours was evaluated.

In this study, the effect of the addition of Nd³⁺ ions as a corrosion inhibitor of the API X70 steel in a medium rich in chlorides was evaluated. The performance of the Nd³⁺ ions was evaluated by means of electrochemical techniques such as potentiodynamic polarization curves, open circuit potential measurements, linear polarization resistance, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, as well as by means of scanning electron microscopy and EDS measurements. The results showed that Nd³⁺ ions reduce the corrosion rate of steel at concentrations as low as 0.001 M Nd³⁺. At higher concentrations, the inhibition efficiency was only slightly affected although the concentration of chloride ions was increased by the addition of the inhibitor. The adsorption of the Nd³⁺ ions promotes the formation of a protective layer of oxides/hydroxides on the metal surface, thereby reducing the exchange rate of electrons. Nd³⁺ ions act as a mixed inhibitor with a strong predominant cathodic effect.

Many alloys used at high temperature in industrial processes are Ni-based and many others contain it in appreciable quantities, so it is of interest to evaluate the performance of pure nickel in order to determine the behavior of its alloys once the elements responsible for their protection have been depleted due to accelerated corrosion processes in the presence of vanadium-rich molten salts. Due to this, this work presents the study of Ni behavior in NaVO₃-V₂O₅mixtures at different temperatures. The behavior of pure nickel was determined by both electrochemical and mass loss measurements. The results show that the aggressiveness of the vanadium salts is increased by increasing both the V₂O₅content and temperature. V₂O₅addition considerably increases the current densities of the anodic and cathodic reactions. The corrosion process of Ni is modified due to the presence of its corrosion products, and its presence increases the activation energy by at least one order of magnitude. Although nickel shows a high reactivity in vanadium-rich salts, its reaction products are highly stable and protect it from the corrosive medium because the corrosion reactions trap the vanadium and block the migration of nickel ions.

Corrosion phenomena of metals by fused salts depend on chemical composition of the melt and environmental conditions of the system. Detail knowledge of chemistry and thermodynamic of aggressive species formed during the corrosion process is essential for a better understanding of materials degradation exposed to high temperature. When there is a lack of kinetic data for the corrosion processes, an alternative to understand the thermodynamic behavior of chemical species is to utilize phase stability diagrams. Nowadays, there are several specialized software programs to calculate phase stability diagrams. These programs are based on thermodynamics of chemical reactions. Using a thermodynamic data base allows the calculation of different types of phase diagrams. However, sometimes it is difficult to have access to such data bases. In this work, an alternative way to calculate phase stability diagrams is presented. The work is exemplified in the Na-V-S-O and Al-Na-V-S-O systems. This system was chosen because vanadium salts is one of the more aggressive system for all engineering alloys, especially in those processes where fossil fuels are used.

Due to its high content of rare earths, the use of permanent magnets can be a sustainable alternative for the synthesis of environmentally friendly corrosion inhibitors in order to replace the use of highly toxic inhibitors, as well as the use of rare earth salts of high purity and high cost. In this study, the recovery of rare earths from permanent magnet wastes and their synthesis to chloride salts were carried out. Rare earth chlorides were evaluated as corrosion inhibitors by electrochemical techniques on API X70 steel in a 3.5% NaCl solution. Both anodic and cathodic polarization curves were made, and measurements of both open-circuit potential, linear polarization resistance, and electrochemical impedance were made. Results show that the inhibitor synthesized is a mixture of Nd and Pr chloride. Its performance as a corrosion inhibitor is superior to that of high purity Nd chloride (analytical reagent). The results show that the use of electronic scrap is a sustainable source for the synthesis of green corrosion inhibitors with low carbon footprint.