PROTODIN - From Corrosion To Solution

Infrastructures in the sense - industries, transportation facilities, manufacturing sectors, agriculture, education facilities and much more involve the use of metals like iron, copper etc., and the most crucial problem they face is metal corrosion.

Iron reacts with oxygen in presence of water to form rust or iron oxide. Rusting phenomenon is not a single step reaction but a series of redox reactions where iron first get oxidized and oxygen gets reduced. Combining these half reactions, iron forms iron hydroxide which further reacts with oxygen to form hydrated iron oxide, termed as rust. This iron oxide formed weakens the core property of iron resulting in degradation, seen as corrosion.

• How a heavy metallic structure continue to look strong and rigid even after facing all kinds of environmental contaminants?
• How come cast iron and steel bridges over water bodies remain intact for years and year open to vulnerable exposed surroundings?

Heavy industrial grade metals are prone to the corrosive attacks from acids, bases, oxidizing agents, caustics etc. These react with metal electrons and decrease its metallic property resulting in total damage. In fact, in coastal areas of India, the monetary loss caused by corrosion per year is in the range of thousands of crores. Not just capital loss, this problem is even contributing to pollution degrading the environmental balance.

According to a global report, annual loss faced due to corrosion is around 3-4% of global GDP.

Conventional methods involve the use of one of the following, or all

• Remove the metal from the corrosive agents; Viable, but not economical.
• Use of alloy instead metal; Viable and economical, but misses out on the exact metal property needed.
• Electrolysis; Viable and economical.

However, chemical treatment of a metal with inhibitors can help reducing the rate of corrosion. Used as a pre-treatment mechanism where the chemical is either sprayed or directly applied on the metal. This inhibitor chemical forms a thin protective layer over the base metal, disallowing any corroding substance to come in contact with the metal.

Basically the inhibitor makes the metal surface inert to any kind of oxidizing or reducing reaction, useful in protecting the outer metal structure. Inaccessible internal surfaces can be protected with conjunction of the inhibiting fluid in batch or in continuous process depending upon the circumstances. Sometimes the vapour phase corrosion inhibitors can also be used which have relatively larger vapor pressures, and generally volatile in nature, allowing penetration of the inhibitor chemical to the inaccessible surfaces within the structure, saving time, labour and cost.

Adsorption is a process by which atom or ions of a matter gets adhered into the surface forming an adsorptive film or protective film. The first natural product believed to be a corrosion inhibitor was from the extract of Celandine plants that too way back in 1930’s.

Compositions of Corrosion Inhibitors used generally based on their Industrial Applications:

Acid Pickling: Thiourea, Amino acids derivatives, Propargyl alcohol

Oil: Sodium Carbonates, Organic acid complexes

Water Transmission, Distribution System: Phosphates, Amine Volatiles (Cyclohexylamine, Morpholine)

Concrete: Phosphate Ions

Boilers: Thermoelectric (General), Ammonia, Cyclohexylamine, Alkanol and Morpholine

Chemtex Speciality Limited manufacture Organic Corrosion Inhibitor under the brand name Protodin meets the standard requirement as a corrosion inhibitor for various applications in industrial sectors.

Protodin is an organic corrosion inhibitor for high stress conditions in brine, saline or sea water during storage and flush out of metallic vessels, tanks, equipment and pipelines. It’s all organic formulation makes it completely safe for aquatic and marine discharge. During hydrostatic test or flow test, water is allowed to remain in the system for a few days, weeks or even months. This can cause heavy corrosion to the metal during and after testing. It is mechanized with unique blend of corrosion inhibitors that prevents brine corrosion by creating a thin ionic charge, sometimes mono-molecular layer on the metal surface preventing the formation of hydrochloric and hydrobromic acid.

Protodin has be tested for toxicity under LD50 (oral) on male white rat and has been found that with the dosage up to 30,000mg/kg bw is relatively non-toxic acutely because it shows that the death of test animal is less than 50%. Protodin is an all organic inhibitor and is relatively non-toxic as per LD50 toxicological information. Hence, it is regarded as safe for disposal at up to 5000mg/l concentration. However, we recommend users to comply with all legal regulations and restrictions, and perform necessary discharge treatment before disposal or drain out.

The information contained in the publication is to the best of our knowledge, true and accurate, but any recommendation or suggestions which may be made are without guarantee, since the conditions of use are beyond our control. Furthermore, nothing contained herein shall be construed as a recommendation to use any product in conflict with existing patents covering any material or its use.

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The name Chemtex depicts Chemical Technology Experts. The early 1970s saw the foundation of Chemtex. And in the following decades, it expanded with its variety of indigenous chemicals and industries catered.