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ISSN: 0973-4945; CODEN ECJHAO

E-Journal of Chemistry
2012, 9(1), 487-495

Corrosion Inhibition Studies of Mild Steel in Acid

Medium Using Musa Acuminata Fruit Peel Extract
N. GUNAVATHY and S. C. MURUGAVEL*
Department of Chemistry, Nirmala College for Women, Coimbatore, India
Department of Chemistry, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, India
[email protected]

Received 25 April 2011; Revised 23 July 2011; Accepted 30 July 2011

Abstract: The inhibition effect of unripe fruit peel extract of Musa acuminata
(Cultivar variety Nendran) (MNP) on corrosion of mild steel in 1 N HCl has
been investigated by weight loss and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy
(EIS) with various concentrations of the extract. The effect of temperature on
the corrosion inhibition of mild steel in the temperature range of 30 C 80 C
was carried out. The results indicate that MNP extract act as an effective
inhibitor in the acid environment and is of mixed type inhibitor having
efficiency as high as 96% at 2% inhibitor concentration. The inhibition
efficiency of MNP extract increases with the increase of concentration but
decreases with the increase in temperature. The inhibitor achieves its inhibition
by physical adsorption of nutrients of the peel extract on the surface of the mild
steel. The experimental data revealed that the adsorption occurred according to
the Langmuir and Temkin adsorption isotherm.
Keywords: Plant extract, Corrosion inhibitor, Mild steel, Weight loss, Potentiodynamic Polarization,
Adsorption.

Introduction
An antique fruit crop of the world, known as Apple of the paradise botanically named as
Musa acuminata (Nendran), cheapest and plentiful fruit, used widely as food without
apparent toxic effect, having antimicrobial and antioxidant activity contains starch,
fructosans, phenolic acids, anthocyanins, terpenoids, sterols, polyphenols, gallocatechin and
dopamine1-5. The peel of the fruit contains beta sitosterol, stigmasterol, campesterol,
cycloeucalenol, cycloartanol and 24-methylene cycloartanol6,7. The natural flavonoid present
in banana exhibits an antioxidative activity that stops oxidation and corrosion, the
deterioration process and discoloration8.

488

S. C. MURUGAVEL et al.

Corrosion is gradual destruction of a material because of its reaction with environment.

Both direct and indirect losses due to corrosion are huge. The control of corrosion is thus
primarily an economic problem. Corrosion inhibitors reduce the rate of either anodic
oxidation or cathodic reduction or both9,10.
An attempt to find corrosion inhibitors that are environmentally safe and readily
available has been a growing trend in the use of natural products such as leaves, seeds,
flowers and fruits extract as corrosion inhibitors for metals in acid cleaning processes 11-13.
Several natural products like Bauhinia purpurea14 (leaves), Uncaria gambir8 (plant),
Azadirachta indica15 (leaves, seeds, roots), Aloe vera16 (leaves), Phyllanthus amarus17
(leaves and seeds), Occimum viridis18, Zenthoxylum-alatum19,20 (fruit), Musa sapientum21
(peel), Green tea22 (leaves), Theobroma cacao, Cola acuminata23 (leaves), Hibiscus
sabdariffa24, Oxandra asbeckii25 and Citrus paradisi26 (juice) were reported as effective
corrosion inhibitors in acid medium.
The banana fruit Nendran also called as French plantain, a popular variety in Kerala,
India, is relished as a fruit as well as used for preparing juice, healthy food powder, chips
etc. Matured fruit slices are made into chips by frying in edible oil after dipping in brine,
while the peels are used as fodder for the cattle. The present study makes use of the fruit
peels which are available in plenty.
The study examines the action of unripe Musa acuminata fruit peel extract as corrosion
inhibitor of mild steel in acid medium with various concentrations and temperature. The
kinetics of corrosion of mild steel in acid medium has been identified by weight loss and
electrochemical impedance spectroscopy methods.

Experimental
Inhibitor preparation
The peels of Musa acuminata fruit were collected from the chips manufacturing shops of
Coimbatore city, dried and powdered. About 12.5 g of the powder was refluxed with 250
mL of 1 N HCl for about 3 hours and was allowed to stand overnight. The resultant solution
was filtered and the filtrate was made up to 250 mL. From this 5% stock solution of the
extract, different concentrations of the inhibitor solution like 0.005, 0.01, 0.05, 0.10, 0.50,
1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 % v/v were prepared.
Specimen preparation
For weight loss method mild steel coupons of dimension 1 x 5 x 0.2 cm with a small hole on
the upper part to facilitate suspension of the coupons in the test solutions were used. The
specimens were degreased with acetone and pickled with concentrated hydrochloric acid. The
surface of the specimens were mechanically polished using SiC emery papers of grades 400
and 600, washed with distilled water, dried at room temperature and stored in a desiccator.
For electrochemical polarization and impendence measurements mild steel rod of 15 x
0.5 cm were used. These rods were mechanically polished using different grades of SiC
emery paper, repeatedly rinsed with distilled water and dried before use.

Weight loss method

Effect of concentration
The prepared specimens in duplicate were suspended from glass hook in 100 mL of the test
solution, with and without the extracts of different concentration for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12 and
24 h at room temperature. The weight of the specimens before and after immersion was

Corrosion Inhibition Studies of Mild Steel

489

determined using an analytical balance of 0.0001 mg accuracy. Inhibition efficiency of the

mild steel was determined using the average of the duplicate value using the relation
W1 - W2
x 100
W1
Where, W1 and W2 are weight loss of the mild steel without and with the inhibitor
respectively.
IE % =

Effect of temperature
The polished and pre-weighed specimens in duplicate were suspended in 100 mL of the test
solution without and with the addition of different concentrations of the peel extract for 1 h
in the temperature range of 30-80 C using thermostat. After the corrosion test, the
specimens were washed with distilled water, dried and weighed. From the weight loss the
inhibition efficiency (IE %) was calculated.

Electrochemical measurements
A three electrode cell assembly of borosil glass consisting of a mild steel rod of size 15
X 0.5 cm as working electrode (WE), a large area platinum mesh of negligible
impedance as counter electrode (CE), and a saturated calomel electrode as reference
electrode (RE) containing 100 mL of the test solution was used for electrochemical
measurements at 30 C.

Potentiodynamic polarization studies

Potentiodynamic polarization studies were done using computer controlled PARSTAT 2273
Advanced Electrochemical System. Before recording the polarization curves the mild steel
rod as a working electrode was immersed in the test solution for 10 minutes to reach
saturation. The potential was changed with the speed of 2 MHz to 100 mHz min-1. From
polarization measurement, the corrosion current (Icorr), corrosion potential (Ecorr) and anodic
(ba) and cathodic (bc) Tafel slopes were determined. The percentage inhibition efficiency
() was calculated from,
=

Icorr - Icorr (inh)

Icorr

x 100

Where, Icorr and Icorr (inh) are corrosion current density without and with inhibitor respectively.

Electrochemical impendence spectroscopy (EIS)

EIS study enables us to understand the various processes that take place on the metalelectrolyte solution interface, adsorption-desorption of the reaction intermediates. The
Nyquist plots are obtained by measuring AC impedance and Tafel plot using polarization
data. The EIS experiments were conducted using the same setup as used in the polarization
method using frequency range 2 MHz to 100 mHz with AC amplitude of 10 mv. The real
(Z) and imaginary (Z) impedance values were measured for various frequencies. The
charge transfer resistance values (Rct) obtained by plotting Z vs. Z were used to calculate
the percentage inhibition efficiency from
Rct0 - Rct
x 100
Rct0
0
and Rct are charge transfer resistance values with and without inhibitor.
IE % =

Where, Rct

490

S. C. MURUGAVEL et al.

Results and Discussion

Weight loss method-effect of concentration
The inhibition efficiency of mild steel exposed to different concentration of MNP extract in
1 N HCl at various immersion periods at 30 C are presented in the Table 1 and Figure 1.
The corrosion inhibition efficiency increased with the increase in concentration of the peel
extract 13. Maximum efficiency of 96.08 % was achieved with 2% of MNP extract at 5 hours
of immersion at 30 C. The increase in inhibition efficiency may be attributed to the increase
in number of adsorption of nutrients on the surface of mild steel which makes a barrier for
mass and charge transfer and prevent further corrosion12.
Table 1. IE % of MNP extract on mild steel in 1 N HCl at different concentration and
different immersion periods
1
68.21
77.96
83.99
87.94
92.34
92.58
93.04
93.27

2
56.48
74.27
86.18
90.85
92.92
94.30
94.47
94.65

3
42.70
64.06
88.73
92.60
94.53
94.74
94.96
95.06

Immersion time in hours

4
5
6
46.15 53.64 47.23
68.75 61.55 62.57
91.52 84.89 87.28
92.12 88.72 87.89
94.86 91.93 92.70
95.55 93.66 93.91
95.72 95.85 93.97
95.80 96.08 94.04

7
44.05
64.11
84.92
86.53
91.85
94.64
94.05
94.10

12
50.30
63.45
78.87
85.67
89.42
91.51
92.91
94.13

24
53.47
62.54
84.01
88.00
88.76
89.97
90.29
89.40

Inhibition efficiency, %

Conc. of
extract, % v/v
0.005
0.01
0.05
0.10
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00

Concentration, %v/v

Figure 1. Variation of Inhibition efficiency of mild steel with various concentrations of

MNP extract in 1 N HCl

Effect of immersion time

Inhibition efficiency of peel extract on mild steel is influenced by the immersion time.
Inhibition efficiency of 93.27% was obtained for MNP extract for immersion period of 1
hour at 2% v/v concentration. At 3, 5 and 7h the maximum efficiency of 95.06%, 96.08%
and 94.10% respectively were obtained for 2% v/v MNP extract (Table 1 and Figure 2). The
variation in inhibition efficiency with increasing time may be due to the shift in adsorption
and desorption equilibrium which takes place as the exposure time increases.

Effect of temperature
To study the effect of temperature on the corrosion inhibition properties of peel extract,
experiments were carried out in absence and presence of varying concentration of the inhibitor

Corrosion Inhibition Studies of Mild Steel

491

Inhibition efficiency, %

in the temperature range from 30-80 C. The results are summarized in Table 2 and Figure 3. The
data indicated that the peel extract was effective up to 40 C and decreased slightly thereafter.

12

24

Immersion time, h

Inhibition efficiency, %

Figure 2. Influence of immersion time on inhibition efficiency of mild steel in various

concentrations of MNP extract in 1 N HCl
Table 2. Effect of temperature on mild steel corrosion in 1 N HCl in absence and presence
of MNP extract
Conc of
Temperature, K
extract, % v/v
303
313
323
333
343
353
0.005
68.37 58.92 36.56 37.67 67.93 16.29
0.01
77.07 65.00 50.68 54.84 72.73 18.47
78.77 83.95 83.58 78.68 78.28 60.83
0.05
85.35 88.14 88.32 84.57 79.84 70.84
0.10
91.08 94.82 92.40 92.26 90.80 80.08
0.50
93.21 95.61 94.37 94.68 91.32 85.64
1.00
93.42 96.01 95.26 94.73 93.76 84.73
1.50
95.75 96.91 95.78 95.16 94.61 86.42
2.00

Concentration, %v/v

Figure 3. Effect of temperature on mild steel in 1 N HCl in presence and absence of MNP
extract
The maximum efficiency of 96.91% at 40C indicates that the inhibitor can be
effectively used up to 40 C. The decrease in inhibition efficiency with increase in
temperature may be due to desorption of inhibitor molecules at faster rate at higher
temperature13,27.

Effect of surface coverage

The surface coverage of the inhibitor at different concentrations was calculated using the
equation,
= (1 CR / CR' )

492

S. C. MURUGAVEL et al.

Where, CR and CR' are the corrosion rate with and without inhibitor respectively
obtained from the weight loss method.
The surface coverage increased with increase in the concentrations of extract. This may be due
to increased number of inhibitor molecules getting parallely adsorbed on the surface of mild steel 26.

Adsorption isotherm

log (1- )

The mechanism of corrosion inhibition and degree of adsorption of inhibitor depend on the
chemical structure of the molecule, chemical composition of the solution, the nature of metal
surface, the temperature and the electrochemical potential at the metal / solution interface.
The surface coverage () values help in understanding adsorption characteristics. The
values for different concentrations of the extract were tested by fitting various isotherms
such as Langmuir and Temkin.
Straight line obtained by plotting log ( / 1- ) vs. log C (Langmuir adsorption) (Figure
4) and vs. log C (Temkin adsorption) (Figure 5) indicated that the process of inhibition is
due to physical adsorption13,27,28.

log C

Surface coverage,

Figure 4. Langmuir adsorption isotherm of MNP extract on mild steel in 1 N HCl at various
temperature

log C

Figure 5. Temkin adsorption isotherm of MNP extract on mild steel in 1 N HCl at various
temperature

Electrochemical method
Potentiodynamic polarization studies
The effect of the extract on the electrochemical behaviour of mild steel was studied by
carrying out cathodic and anodic polarization experiments. The electrodynamic parameters

Corrosion Inhibition Studies of Mild Steel

493

of the inhibitor such as corrosion potential Ecorr, corrosion current density Icorr, anodic and
cathodic Tafel slopes, ba and bc, in absence and presence of inhibitor are listed in Table 3
and depicted in Figure 6. Further the result reveals that Icorr values of acid in presence of
inhibitor are lower than that of acid in absence of inhibitor indicating that increase in
inhibition property was due to adsorption of inhibitor molecules on the electrode surface.
This shows that the peel extract of Musa acuminata in 1N HCl acts as very good corrosion
inhibitor for mild steel. The steady value of Ecorr suggest that the inhibitor is mixed type
inhibitor and this infers that the inhibitor reduces the hydrogen evolution and anodic
dissolution of mild steel25, 29.
Table 3. Potentiodynamic polarization parameters for mild steel in 1 N HCl in the absence
and presence of MNP extract
Conc
% v/v
Blank
0.005
0.01
0.10
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00

-Ecorr
V
0.463
0.455
0.454
0.464
0.466
0.459
0.468
0.472

Icorr
mAmp/cm2
7831.0
2439.0
1235.0
118.7
124.8
130.1
64.1
65.7

bc
mV/dec
774.19
244.47
219.13
170.84
196.33
191.83
176.57
167.35

ba
mV/dec
317.84
161.70
121.99
101.56
75.57
68.18
71.79
77.64

Rp
Ohm cm2
8.204
8.342
8.948
18.010
18.651
20.283
26.503
26.526

Tafel
68.86
84.23
98.48
98.41
98.34
99.18
99.16

% IE
Linear
1.65
8.31
54.45
56.01
59.55
69.05
69.07

Potential

-0.4
-0.6
-0.8
-1.0
0.0000001

0.00001

0.001

0.1

A/cm2

Figure 6. Potentiodynamic polarization curves for mild steel in 1 N HCl without and with
different concentrations of MNP extract

Electrochemical Impedance studies (EIS)

The corrosion behaviour of mild steel in 1 N HCl in presence of MNP was also studied
using EIS at 30 C. The impedance parameters like charge transfer resistance (Rct), double
layer capacitance (Cdl) and the corresponding inhibition efficiency are determined.
It is clear from the Table 4 and Figure 7 that Cdl values decreased with increase in
concentration of the inhibitor which can result from decrease in dielectric constant due to
adsorption of molecules of the extract on the surface of the metal12. The Rct values increase

494

S. C. MURUGAVEL et al.

with increase in the concentration of the inhibitor which are in accordance with the results
obtained by weight loss method30.
Table 4. EIS parameters for the corrosion of mild steel in 1 N HCl containing MNP extract
at 30C

Zim, ohms

Conc of extract
% v/v
Blank
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0

Cdl
F cm-2
2.298 x10-9
1.075 x10-5
1.308 x10-5
1.139 x10-5
1.593 x10-5

Rct
Ohmcm2
11.52
88.11
76.80
144.70
141.40

%IE
86.93
85.00
92.04
91.85

80
60
40
20

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Zre, ohms

Figure 7. Impedance plots recorded for mild steel in 1 N HCl solutions without and with
various concentrations of MNP extract

Corrosion inhibition mechanism

The peel extract of Musa acuminata (MNP) provides corrosion inhibition for mild steel by
adsorption of the nutrients present in the extract which act as inhibitor molecules on the active
sites on the metal surface. This is evident from Temkin adsorption isotherm where surface
coverage () is plotted against log C. The plant nutrients sitosterol, stigmasterol, campesterol,
cycloeucalenol, cycloartanol, and 24-methylene cycloartanol have either nitrogen or oxygen or
both and pair of electrons in nitrogen and oxygen can facilitate the adsorption of the nutrients of
the extract on metals. Interaction between the electrons of oxygen and the vacant d orbital of
the metal surface may also be another possibility for adsorption and for inhibition31,32.

Conclusions
The peel extract of Musa acuminata was found to be effective inhibitor at concentration of
2% v/v in 1 N HCl solution. The inhibition efficiency of mild steel in 1 N HCl increases
with increasing the concentration of MNP extract. The performance of the extract as
corrosion inhibitor decreased with increasing temperature. AC impendence plots of mild
steel in the acid medium show that polarization resistance increases with the increase of
extract concentration. The results indicate that inhibition effect of the plant extract was due
to physical adsorption of the nutrients present in the extract onto the active sites on the
surface of the metal.

Corrosion Inhibition Studies of Mild Steel

495

Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to the Principal, Nirmala College for Women, (Autonomous),
Coimbatore and Principal, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, for the constant
support and for providing the necessary facilities for this research work.

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