A simple and safe method to implement corrosion experiments with 1 bar of H2S

A detailed description of the preparation and management of reliable and safe corrosion laboratory experiments requiring the presence of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) is reported in this work. The adopted method is based on a modified Kipp’s apparatus allowing to produce on demand just the amount of H2S required for electrolyte saturation. Two benchmark corrosion cases were studied: electrochemical corrosion, monitored by means of potentiodynamic measurements, and sulphide stress corrosion cracking tests, both in H2S-saturated acidic aqueous chloride solutions. The sensitivity to H2S corrosion of a few classical materials of interest in the oil and gas sector, corrosion-resistant alloys, was then examined, proving as the presence of H2S leads to a denobling effect, increases the passive current density and influences significantly the time of cracking in the sulphide stress corrosion cracking tests.