Corrosion behavior of mild steel in the presence of scale inhibitor in sulfuric acid solution

Surfactants such as non-ionic polyethylene glycol tert-octylphenyl ether (Triton X-114) have been studied as efficient corrosion inhibitors in acid medium. In this study inhibition performance of Triton X-114 has been evaluated as corrosion inhibitor for mild steel in 0.5 mol l⁻¹ H₂SO₄. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), potentiodynamic polarization and linear polarization (LPR) techniques has been applied to determine the electrochemical behaviour of Triton X-114. The maximum efficiency of Triton X-114 was found as 96% at the concentration 5.0 × 10⁻⁵ mol l⁻¹. The adsorption isotherm of inhibitor on the mild steel surface was found to be in a good agreement with the Langmuir and the standard free energy value (ΔG _ads^°) was calculated as −50.1 kJ mol⁻¹, which shows that adsorption of Triton X-114 on the mild steel surface improves the inhibition characteristics in 0.5 M H₂SO₄.