Corrosion inhibition of acid pickling –descaling-cleaning action on mild steel using aqueous hydroxyethyl cellulose

The corrosion inhibition capability of aqueous Hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) on mild steel corrosion in 1 M HCl solution proposed for mild steel pickling, industrial cleaning, and descaling was evaluated at different concentrations and immersion times using gravimetric measurement. HEC demonstrated efficiency in mild steel corrosion inhibition with a maximum inhibition efficiency of 87% for a 300 ml acid pickling, industrial cleaning, and descaling solution composed of 20% aqueous solution of 0.01 M HEC and 80% of 1 M HCl solution, within an immersion time of 120 hours. The inhibition efficiency was found to increase with the increase in the concentration of HEC implying that HEC’s inhibition action is concentration and time-dependent. The mechanism of adsorption of HEC was identified to be chemisorption with hydroxyl (-OH) moiety donated to the active sites of mild steel coupled with HEC molecules encapsulation of chloride ions on mild steel surface thus preventing the corrosive action of Cl ions on the mild steel.