Corrosion Effect of Sweet Cassava Fluid on Steels under Different Working Conditions

Abstract

One of the most widely used materials in agro-processing fabrication is steel. However, cassava has been found to contain aggressive ions which have deleterious effect on the compositional constituents of steels used in cassava processing industries resulting in an untimely failure in service. This research was carried out to study the corrosion rate of mild steel (with and without surface protection) immersed in a sweet cassava juice media (Oko iyawo) subjected to two different exposure duration; continuous and intermittent. Periodic weight loss measurement and the relationship between weight loss and exposure time were determined. The result obtained shows that galvanized steel had the highest rate of corrosion during the time of exposure compared to painted mild steel, while normal mild steel with no surface protection had the least corrosion rate throughout the immersion period.