Electrochemical Studies of Hydrogen Permeation in Petroleum Production and Process Environments

American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc. This paper was prepared for International Symposium on Oilfield Chemistry of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, to be held in Dallas, Texas, Jan. 16–17, 1975. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made. Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines. Abstract A procedure for the quantitative measurement of hydrogen flux through metal membranes is described Environments similar to those found in petroleum production and process operations were used for hydrogen process operations were used for hydrogen generation. Application of this technique is directed to both the performance evaluation of various inhibitor formulations and elucidation of the mechanism of inhibition. Introduction The problem of hydrogen penetration into materials utilized in petroleum production antiprocess operations has plagued production antiprocess operations has plagued this industry for a significant number of years. Damage is normally characterized by blistering or embrittlement depending on the strength level of the particular steel in question. Hydrogen activity in systems susceptible to such attack is normally monitored in plant by pressure sensing probes described by Bonner et al. Protection is generally attained by Protection is generally attained by metallurgical design consideration, control of system chemical parameters or addition of inhibitor formulations. This study is concerned primarily with the last method mentioned and is directed to the design of laboratory test procedures for evaluating permeation inhibitors under various permeation inhibitors under various simulated operational environments. Background Metallurgy susceptible to damage by hydrogen penetration can be found in both modern day crude oil production and refining operations. Chemical environments necessary for promotion of this phenomenon are common in such processes as hydrodesulfurization and petroleum production from hydrogen sulfide bearing formations. Material failure is normally evidenced by blistering or embrittlement, in steel above Rockwell C-22 hardness. Chemical parameters monitored in addition to sulfide are parameters monitored in addition to sulfide are ammonia and cyanide. Together these three species can comprise the most hostile of permeation environments. permeation environments. If one considers the corrosion of iron by hydrogen sulfide alone, a protective film of iron sulfide, FeS, is usually formed causing the corrosion reaction to abate after a short period. The presence of cyanide, however, at levels of several hundred parts per million facilitate removal of this per million facilitate removal of this protective film by formation of a soluble protective film by formation of a soluble ferrocyanide complex, Fe(CN)6-4.