Abstract:
Corrosion of X60 steel under high-pressure H
2S/CO
2 coexist environment was investigated using a high-temperature and high-pressure H
2S autoclave. The structure and constitution of corrosion scales were studied through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Corrosion experiments were carried out under situations with the same H
2S/CO
2 partial pressure ratio (1.74) and different H
2S partial pressures from 0.15 MPa to 2.0 MPa. The results show that the corrosion scales mainly consist of ferrous sulfide. The absence of ferrous carbonate in the corrosion scales suggests that the corrosion process was controlled by H
2S. Under low H
2S partial pressure conditions, tetragonal FeS
1-x is the predominant corrosion product. When the H
2S partial pressure was increased to 2.0 MPa, hexagonal FeS, hexagonal Fe
1-xS and cubic FeS
2 could also be observed in the corrosion scales. Localized corrosion observed on X60 steel under a higher HaS partial pressure condition can be attributed to the loose scale with S-rich corrosion products and the local breaking of corrosion scales, which also induced the decreasing of general corrosion rate at a higher H
2S partial pressure level.