ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Novel use of kitchen waste: protection of boiler quality steel from corrosion in acidic media using onion waste

Abhradip Pal and Chandan Das

Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, India

E-mail: cdas@iitg.ac.in

Received: 2 August 2022  Accepted: 13 October 2022

Abstract:

An eco-friendly approach to inhibit the corrosion of boiler quality (BQ) steel by onion waste in acidic media was investigated. The extract from onion peel was characterized using the conventional extraction method and was characterized using HPLC. The efficacy of the onion peel extract (OPE) as a green corrosion inhibitor was studied using the weight loss method and a variety of electrochemical techniques, including open-circuit potential (OCP), potentiodynamic polarization (PDP), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The Tafel polarization revealed that at 200 mg L⁻¹ of onion peel extract (OPE), corrosion current density was reduced maximum in both 1 (M) HCl and 0.5 (M) H₂SO₄ media. From the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy studies, the maximum inhibition efficiencies of 91.30% and 90.71% were found at 200 mg L⁻¹ in 1 (M) HCl and 0.5 (M) H₂SO₄, respectively. The Langmuir isotherm was determined to be the best-fitting model, and the thermodynamic parameter, such as free energy \(\Delta G_{{{\text{ads}}}}^{^\circ }\), was computed, which indicated the physisorption of OPE onto the BQ surface. In theoretical investigations, density functional theory DFT was used to determine the adsorption efficiency and reactive sites of the OPE molecule by exploring various quantum chemical parameters.

Keywords: Onion peel; Green corrosion inhibitor; Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy; Tafel polarization; Density functional theory

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-022-02549-7

Chemical Papers 77 (2) 1107–1127 (2023)