TY - GEN
T1 - Black powder formation by dewing and hygroscopic corrosion processes
AU - Colahan, Martin
AU - Young, David
AU - Singer, Marc
AU - Nogueira, Ricardo P.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank The Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, UAE for their financial support, Mr. Cody Shafer for apparatus drawings, Prof. Srdjan Nesic for insightful discussions, and the Center for Electrochemical Engineering Research at Ohio University for access to the XRD and Raman systems.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 by NACE International.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - The presence of black powder in natural gas pipelines can lead to equipment erosion, valve failure, instrumentation malfunction, and increased pressure drop. However, despite its impact on downstream and midstream operations, black powder production is poorly understood. In the present work, black powder formation as a result of corrosion was investigated by simulating sales gas conditions in a glass cell. Steel specimens were systematically exposed to a range of CO2, H2S, and O2 partial pressures at differing water condensation rates. The potential for hygroscopic material assisting black powder formation was also investigated. Friable corrosion products found in dewing conditions consisted of siderite, mackinawite, and hematite. The expected mass of corrosion products, as determined from experimental corrosion rates, are in line with the high levels of black powder in field production. The presence of hygroscopic NaCl crystals facilitated corrosion at relative humidities as low as 33%.
AB - The presence of black powder in natural gas pipelines can lead to equipment erosion, valve failure, instrumentation malfunction, and increased pressure drop. However, despite its impact on downstream and midstream operations, black powder production is poorly understood. In the present work, black powder formation as a result of corrosion was investigated by simulating sales gas conditions in a glass cell. Steel specimens were systematically exposed to a range of CO2, H2S, and O2 partial pressures at differing water condensation rates. The potential for hygroscopic material assisting black powder formation was also investigated. Friable corrosion products found in dewing conditions consisted of siderite, mackinawite, and hematite. The expected mass of corrosion products, as determined from experimental corrosion rates, are in line with the high levels of black powder in field production. The presence of hygroscopic NaCl crystals facilitated corrosion at relative humidities as low as 33%.
KW - Black powder
KW - Dewing
KW - Hygroscopic
KW - Internal corrosion
KW - Sales gas
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85027988541&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85027988541
T3 - NACE - International Corrosion Conference Series
SP - 4859
EP - 4873
BT - Corrosion Conference and Expo 2017
T2 - Corrosion Conference and Expo 2017
Y2 - 26 March 2017 through 30 March 2017
ER -