On-line corrosion monitoring in geothermal district heating systems. I. General corrosion rates

General corrosion rates in the geothermal district heating systems in Iceland are generally low, of the magnitude 1 μm/y. The reason is high pH (9.5), low-conductivity (200 μm/y) and negligible dissolved oxygen. The geothermal hot water is either used directly from source or to heat up cold ground water. The fluid naturally contains sulphide, which helps keeping the fluid oxygen-free but complicates the electrochemical environment. In this research on-line techniques for corrosion monitoring were tested and evaluated in this medium. Electrochemical methods worked well as long as frequency was kept low but ER worked better if oxygen was present.