Corrosion Behaviors of Q345R Steel at the Initial Stage in an Oxygen-Containing Aqueous Environment: Experiment and Modeling

Evaluation of Corrosion, Mechanical Properties and Hydrogen Embrittlement of Casing Pipe Steels with Different Microstructure

In the research, the corrosion and mechanical properties, as well as susceptibility to hydrogen embrittlement, of two casing pipe steels were investigated in order to assess their serviceability in corrosive and hydrogenating environments under operation in oil and gas wells. Two carbon steels with different microstructures were tested: the medium carbon steel (MCS) with bainitic microstructure and the medium-high carbon steel (MHCS) with ferrite-pearlite microstructure. The results showed that the corrosion resistance of the MHCS in CO₂-containing acid chloride solution, simulating formation water, was significantly lower than that of the MCS, which was associated with microstructure features. The higher strength MCS with the dispersed microstructure was less susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement under preliminary electrolytic hydrogenation than the lower strength MHCS with the coarse-grained microstructure. To estimate the embrittlement of steels, the method of the FEM load simulation of the specimens with cracks was used. The constitutive relations of the true stress-strain of the tested steels were defined. The stress and strain dependences in the crack tip were calculated. It was found that the MHCS was characterized by the lower plasticity on the stage of the neck formation of the specimen and the lower fracture toughness than the other one. The obtained results demonstrating the limitations of the usage of casing pipes made of the MHCS with the coarse-grained ferrite/pearlite microstructure in corrosive and hydrogenating environments were discussed.

Reinjection oilfield wastewater treatment using bioelectrochemical system and consequent corrosive community evolution on pipe material

The corrosive issues are comprehensively caused in oilfield rejection system, in which sulfide is one of (bio-)chemical factors leading to high corrosive rate and blocking problem. Generally, aerobic treatment is a well-established and cost-effective unit for sulfide removal before oilfield wastewater reinjection. However, the residual dissolved oxygen (DO), which causes chemical, biological and electrochemical corrosion to water injection pipeline equipment, is still high after multi-stage filtration of DO removal. Here, a novel system to achieve quick and efficient DO removal through a three-electrode (cathode-anode-cathode)-upflow bioelectrochemical reactor (R_CAC) was constructed before wastewater reinjection. Bioelectrodes were well established by utilizing organic matters of oilfield wastewater and conducted extracellular electron transport to achieve a steady DO removal from ∼5 mg/L to 0.01 mg/L (HRT 6 h), the DO removal efficiency reached approximately 100%, and the downside biocathode made the largest contribution for DO removal. In the treated wastewater, the corrosion rate of stainless steel N80 ultimately declined over 30 days testing. As a result of DO removal and ammonia conversion to nitrate by bioelectrodes, the corrosive microorganisms were substantially changed. Especially, sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) on the surface of N80 immersed in treated wastewater were decreased in abundance; while nitrate-reducing bacteria (NRB) enriched more, which can compete with SRB to prevent biological corrosion.