Application of Sodium Methyl Ester Sulfonate Anionic Surfactants as Corrosion Inhibitors for Carbon Steel in Oilfield Injection Water

In this study, the anticorrosive properties of a series of sodium methyl ester sulfonate anionic surfactants on a carbon steel were estimated for an oilfield injection water collected from a well of Hassi R’Mel region—Algeria, known as Baremian water, and are compared to those of sodium dodecyl sulfate. This class of surfactants was synthesized from fatty acids by a photochemical process and present good physico-chemical properties and good biodegradability. The inhibition performance was evaluated by weight loss and electrochemical techniques: linear polarization resistance and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The results showed that these surfactants are good inhibitors; the inhibition efficiency increases with increasing concentration surfactants. In addition, the increase of chain length surfactants leads to the best inhibition efficiency for sodium sulfo palmityl methyl ester surfactant with 95.27, 98.20, and 95% via weight loss, linear polarization resistance and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy–Energy dispersive X-ray allowed the visualization of a good adhesion of the protective deposit formed by the surfactants on the carbon steel surface including the elements presents on this surface as sodium and sulfur. The adsorption of these surfactants shows the maximum adherence to the Langmuir model and the values of Gibbs free energy of adsorption indicated that the inhibitor molecules are physically adsorb onto the metal surface.