article · Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology
Essential oil extracted from the leaves of the Calamintha plant acts as an ecological corrosion inhibitor for mild steel in an acidic environment of 1 M hydrochloric acid. Chemical characterisation of the oil was performed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Testing through gravimetric analysis, potentiodynamic polarisation, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy demonstrated consistent results across methods. At a concentration of 1.5 grams per litre, the essential oil achieved a peak corrosion inhibition efficiency of 87.57 percent. Surface examinations using scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy confirmed the formation of a protective film across the steel surface. Additional theoretical modelling utilising density functional theory and molecular dynamics simulations provided computational insight into the inhibition mechanism.
Mild steel degrades rapidly when exposed to acidic environments, leading to significant material loss and structural failure. Traditional chemical inhibitors can be toxic and hazardous to handle. Finding plant-derived alternatives, such as Calamintha essential oil, demonstrates that natural and ecological substances can effectively protect metal infrastructure from acidic corrosion without relying on harmful synthetic chemicals.
This research is relevant to industrial chemical formulators and sectors that handle acidic cleaning or pickling of mild steel. The work represents early-stage laboratory research, having validated the green inhibitor using standard electrochemical, surface analysis, and computational methods. Development into a market-ready product would require testing under operational conditions, formulation stability trials, and economic viability assessments of plant extraction at scale.
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In the present work, essential oil of Calamintha (EOC) was extracted from Calamintha plant and characterized by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and FTIR technique. In addition, EOC was evaluated as an ecological corrosion inhibitor of mild steel in 1 M HCl medium by various electrochemical techniques. Satisfactory consistency was obtained between the gravimetric method, potentiodynamic polarization (PDP) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The maximum efficiency was recorded for the concentration of 1.5 g/L EOC which reached 87.57%. However, the morphology of the metal surface analyzed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) showed the appearance of a protective barrier on the steel surface. Finally, a theoretical study was carried out on the basis of the density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation technique.
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DOI: 10.1080/01694243.2022.2062956
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