ICMT Center Director Srdjan Nesic will be presenting the next CorroZoom webinar on 20^th February. Speaking on "Corrosion of Carbon Steel in Aqueous CO₂ Environments - the Known Knowns and the Known Unknowns", he will present on the state-of-the-art on this topic, which is of key importance to the energy industries; from oil and gas production to carbon capture. Registration is required at Zoom

The abstract for his presentation reads as follows:

"The known knowns: gaseous CO₂ is stable, mostly inert and non-corrosive. However, upon dissolution in water and a subsequent hydration, a more reactive chemical species - carbonic acid, is formed, which then partially dissociates to form an acidic solution, corrosive for carbon steel. Due to partial dissociation, these kinds of aqueous solutions are called weak acids, even if there is nothing weak about them when it comes to corrosion. Actually, aqueous CO₂ solutions are more corrosive than strong acid solutions at the same pH. A lot is known about corrosion of carbon steel in aqueous CO₂ solutions: the water speciation, the electrochemistry of cathodic and anodic reactions, the formation of protective layers, the most influential factors, etc. Over the past 50 years a vast body of knowledge was generated in this field, mostly driven by the challenges coming from the oil and gas industry, where the hydrocarbons that emerge from the ground are always accompanied with some CO₂ and water, making internal corrosion of carbon steel facilities a large problem. Wells, pipelines, processing and distribution facilities are all affected.

The known unknowns: removal of anthropogenic CO₂ from the atmosphere and its capture at the source is one of the largest scientific and engineering challenges facing humanity in the 21^st century. If this CO₂ is to be safely transported and stored underground, it must be compressed to pressures where it is in liquid or supercritical form. Even very small amounts of water, SO_x and NO_x (in the ppm range) can lead to catastrophically high internal corrosion rates of transportation and injection facilities made from carbon steel. Little is known about this type of corrosion and the understanding we have about aqueous CO₂ corrosion of carbon steel does not carry over entirely."

Now in its 4^th season, CorroZoom is a free webinar series administered by Prof. Gerald Frankel of The Ohio State University's Fontana Corrosion Center. Further information on CorroZoom, including webinar slides and recordings from past events, can be accessed at OSU.


UPDATE - A recording of Prof. Nesic's presentation can be accessed here: FCC OSU Webinar.