Corrosion Behavior of API X100 Steel Material in a Hydrogen Sulfide Environment

Recently, the API X100 steel has emerged as an important pipeline material for transportation of crude oil and natural gas. At the same time, the presence of significant amounts of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in natural gas and crude oil cause pipeline materials to corrode, which affects their integrity. In this study, the effect of H2S concentration on the corrosion behavior of API X100 in 3.5% NaCl solution is presented. The H2S gas was bubbled into saline solutions for different durations, and the corrosion tests were then performed using potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques were used to characterize the corroded surface. The results indicate that the corrosion rate of API X100 steel decreases with increasing H2S bubbling time due to the increase in H2S concentration in 3.5% NaCl solutions. It is noticed that an accumulation of a critical amount of hydrogen in the metal can result in hydrogen-induced crack initiation and propagation. It was further observed that, when the stress limit of a crystalline layer is exceeded, micro-cracking of the formed protective sulfide layer (mackinawite) occurs on the API X100 steel surface, which may affect the reliability of the pipeline system.