Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Corrosion is one of the most severe operational problems in the carbon dioxide (CO2) absorption process using aqueous solutions of alkanolamines, especially when carbon steel is used for plant construction. To suppress such severe corrosion to an acceptable level, corrosion inhibitors are widely applied to this process. However, current corrosion inhibitors are heavy metals that are inherently toxic and potentially pose adverse impacts on human health and the environment. Due to the environmental regulations on the chemical use and disposal, handling of such toxic corrosion inhibitors and disposal of the process waste are restricted and costly. New corrosion inhibitors which are environmentally acceptable must now be discovered to provide alternatives to industry. The ultimate objectives of this proposed research are therefore to develop cost-effective green corrosion inhibitors and establish best practices or strategy for an effective application of the developed green corrosion inhibitors. The proposed research is divided into three main tasks: 1) theoretical screening and formulations of potential green corrosion inhibitors, 2) performance evaluation of the formulated inhibitors, and 3) development of a predictive and mechanistic corrosion model for the green inhibitor system. The developed green corrosion inhibitors together with the strategy for effective inhibitor application will be readily available in response to environmental regulations and industrial needs. These inhibitors are expected to replace current heavy metal inhibitors, thus reducing cost of waste disposal and health risk. This would present an opportunity for Canada to take a leadership role in the area of green chemical use. In addition, practitioners, especially process engineers, would be able to factor in the developed green corrosion inhibitors in their strategy for the design and operation of CO2 capture processes to reduce energy consumption and solution circulating rate or size of process equipment. This would lead to significant savings in both capital and operating costs for CO2 capture, which are otherwise limited by corrosion problems. This would make CO2 capture more economical and environmentally favorable.