Recent trends in environmentally sustainable Sweet corrosion inhibitors

The oil and gas industry suffers from severe economic impact due to the corrosion of pipelines during the industrial oil-well acidizing process and because of the sweet corrosion of steel. One of the most common solutions to counter this issue is applying organic compounds as corrosion inhibitors. Conventionally used inhibitors are quite cumbersome to synthesize, are costly, and most are toxic. Therefore, there exists a need for research and development of novel, cost-effective, and eco-friendly corrosion inhibitors showing efficient inhibition performance. The present work describes the basics of corrosion, its economic impact, and the main strategies to counter this issue. Fundamentals of sweet corrosion, the mechanism involved, the influence of various governing factors, and the limitations of the existing inhibitor chemistries are explained. Some of the prominent classes of the environmentally benign sweet corrosion inhibitors such as the biopolymers, heterocyclic molecules, and pharmaceutical products are also outlined. The focus is on the recent research work in this area, and some of the prospective research aspects are envisaged.