THE EVALUATION OF INHIBITION OF CORROSING MILD STEEL IN H2SO4 BY USING ANTIBIOTICS

THE EVALUATION OF INHIBITION OF CORROSING MILD STEEL  IN H₂SO₄ BY USING ANTIBIOTICS

INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Protection of metals against corrosion is a major Industrial problem that has attracted numerous researches (Abiola et al., 2004, 2005; Agrawal et al., 2003; Arora et al., 2007; Ashassi-Sorkhabi and Ghalebzaza, 2005; Ashassi-Sorkhabi et al., 2005a,b,c,2004). Corrosion inhibitors are chemicals that react with a metallic surface, or the environments the metal surface is exposed to and act to protect the metal against corrosion (Eddy and Odoemelam, 2008a, b; Emregul et al., 2006a, b, 2005a,b).

Most organic compounds having heteroatom(s) (N, S, O, P) in their aromatic or long carbon chain have been successfully used as corrosion inhibitors (Aytac et al., 2005; Babi-Samardzija et al., 2005). These compounds contain electron rich bond that facilitates the formation of a protective layer. Some naturally occurring compounds such as ethanol or methanol extract of plants have also been found to be good corrosion inhibitors due to the presence of tannin, saponin and other phytochemical constituents (Ogundipe et al., 2003; Oguzie, 2006a-c, 2005; Oguzie et al., 2007, 2006, 2004a-c; Okafor et al., 2008, 2007a,b;2005). Recently, the use of antibiotics and other drugs have been investigated and their inhibition efficiencies have been linked with their heterocyclic nature (Abdallah, 2004a,b; Eddy and Odoemelam, 2008a,b; Eddy and Ekop, 2008). The unique advantage of using natural products for the inhibition of the corrosion of metals is that they are environmentally friendly. Similarly, Eddy and Odoemelam (2008a) stated that most heterocyclic drugs are environmentally friendly and can favourably compete with the natural products. However, studies on the use of drugs as corrosion inhibitors are scanty. The present study aims to investigate inhibitive properties of penicillin G for the corrosion of mild steel. Penicillin G is chemically designated as 4-thia-1-azabicyclo [3,1,0] heptane-2-carboxylic acid, 3,3-dimethyl-7-oxo-6-[ (phenylacetyl)amino]-, monopotassium salt,[2s-(2,5,6].

1.2     AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main purpose of this study is to examine inhibition of corrosing mild steel in H₂SO₄ using antibiotics.

The objectives includes;

1. To examine inhibition efficiencies of antibiotics.