Corrosion behavior of novel 3%Cr pipeline steel in CO2 Top-of-Line Corrosion environment

CO2 Top-of-Line Corrosion (TLC) of carbon steel pipelines is a serious problem for wet gas transportation. We have studied the corrosion behavior of novel 3%Cr (3Cr) pipeline steel and conventional carbon steel (X70) in the simulated CO2 TLC environment. The composition and morphology of the corrosion scale are characterized by X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy analyses. The results indicate that 3Cr pipeline steel shows superior resistance to CO2 TLC, exhibiting uniform corrosion with duplex corrosion layer, while X70 suffers severe localized corrosion. It was suggested that the inner Cr enriched layer enhanced the protective ability of the scale to steel substrate and improved the resistance to localized corrosion in CO2 TLC environment.

► CO2 Top-of-Line Corrosion environment in wet gas pipelines was simulated.
► Compared with X70, the resistance to CO2 TLC of novel 3%Cr pipeline steel is better.
► The effect of Cr enrichment in the corrosion scale on CO2 TLC is confirmed.