Inhibitive Potential of Prosopis Africana on Corrosion of Low Carbon Steel in 1M Hydrochloric Acid Medium

Abstract

Recently, there is quest for the use of inexpensive, non-toxic, non-biodegradable, readily available and environmentally acceptable corrosion inhibitor. Studies have shown that these properties could be achieved through the use of plants as inhibitor. Inhibiting effect of Prosopis Africana (Iron Tree) seed extracts were assessed on a sample of low carbon steel in 1M HCl with varying proportion of the seed extract using gravimetric, Tafel polarization and gasometrical measurement techniques. The results show that weight loss/corrosion rate decreases with increase in the extracts’ concentrations.  Good inhibiting efficiency of Prosopis Africana extracts with optimum inhibiting efficiency of 97.7% at 1.0 g/l after 120 hours exposure in gravimetric measurement was attained. TAFEL polarization results revealed that the Prosopis Africana extract shows that the corrosion current density decreases with the increase in the concentration of the extract. The extract is found suitable as green inhibitor for corrosion of low carbon steel in the studied medium.