Inhibition of copper corrosion in 2 M HNO3 by the essential oil of Thyme Morocco

Abstract

The main objective of this work is to study the behavior of copper corrosion in nitric acid medium (2 M) for the evaluation and comparison of the corrosive power of the essential oil of Thymus Satureoides. To do this, we used weight loss and polarization techniques. The results show that the recovery rate of copper corrosion decreases in the presence of the essential oil tested. In a second step, we performed tests on the major component of the oil and the results obtained showed that the activity of the essential oil of thyme is clearly not related to it's major constituent. On the other hand, it is clear from this study that the inhibition efficiency increases with the concentration of inhibitors to reach 89.04% at 1200 ppm for the essential oil of thyme and 69.72% at 1600 ppm for borneol. The adsorption isotherm and the activation energy were also determined.