Jr. Shadley et al., VELOCITY GUIDELINES FOR AVOIDING EROSION-CORROSION DAMAGE IN SWEET PRODUCTION WITH SAND, Journal of energy resources technology, 120(1), 1998, pp. 78-83
CO2 corrosion in carbon steel piping systems can be severe depending o
n a number of factors including CO2 content, water chemistry, temperat
ure, and percent,vater cut. For many oil and gas production conditions
, corrosion products can from a protective scale on interior surfaces
of the piping. In these situations, metal loss rates can reduce to bel
ow design allowances. But, if sand is entrained in the pow, sand parti
cles impinging on pipe surfaces can remove the scale or prevent it fro
m forming at localized areas of particle particle impingement. This pr
ocess is referred to as ''erosion-corrosion'' and can lead to high met
al loss rates. In some cases, penetration rates can be extremely high
due to pitting. This paper combines laboratory test data on erosion-co
rrosion with an erosion prediction computational model to compute flow
velocity limits (''threshold velocities'') for avoiding erosion-corro
sion in carbon steel piping. Also discussed is how threshold velocitie
s can be shifted upward by using a corrosion inhibitor.