A Review of Natural Polysaccharides as Corrosion Inhibitors: Recent Progress and Future Opportunities

Abstract

Preventing and mitigating corrosion problems can be very challenging due to technical considerations and prohibitive economic implications. It is thus imperative to arrest the escalating corrosion rates and impede the deterioration effects of corrosion with versatile remedies. In this review, previous research efforts on the application of plant-derived polysaccharides as potential inhibitors of metal corrosion in various aggressive media are studied. The deployment of corrosion inhibitors has proven to be an outstanding solution to prolonging the lifespan of metals. However, the most applied inhibitors such as the inorganic and some organic compounds are prohibitively expensive, hazardous, and toxic. These limiting factors have stimulated interest in more research into greener and less toxic natural alternatives. Considering the success of synthetic polymers for corrosion inhibition, a wide range of plants with high natural polysaccharide content have been evaluated to determine their effectiveness as biodegradable, renewable, and more economical corrosion inhibitors. Studies generally show that natural polysaccharides exhibit over 90% efficiency for corrosion inhibition with appreciable adsorption on the metal surface. Modification and grafting of the plant polysaccharides to enhance their inhibition efficiencies and to make them more desirable are currently being investigated. Such bio-inspired polymeric molecules thus have invaluable significance as potential alternatives for the problematic corrosion inhibitors.