ORIGINAL ARTICLE Measurement of Hydrogen Produced during Magnesium Corrosion in Hydrochloric Acid and the Effect of the Triton X-100 Surfactant on Hydrogen Production Salah Eid 1,2 Received: 16 June 2018 / Accepted: 5 August 2018 © 2018 AOCS Abstract The goal of this article is to measure hydrogen produced during the corrosion of magnesium in HCl and the inﬂuence of the Triton X-100 surfactant on hydrogen production. It was found that the hydrogen produced during corrosion of Mg in HCl increased with increasing HCl con- centration, stirring rate, temperature, and time of immer- sion. The addition of the Triton X-100 surfactant inhibits the amount of hydrogen evolved. The inhibition behavior was explained on the basis of adsorption of Triton X-100 molecules on the Mg surface creating a barrier for mass and charge transport, which protects the Mg surface from aggressive ions. The activation thermodynamic parameter values were calculated and explicated. Some theoretical chemical parameters were also calculated. The results obtained from the theoretical calculations are in agreement with the practical results. Keywords Hydrogen production  Magnesium  Triton X-100  Corrosion  Inhibitor  Theoretical J Surfact Deterg (2018). Introduction Fears about exhaustion of gas, coal, and petroleum have prompted many investigations about novel energy sources (Deyab, 2013a; Lee, 2012). Hydrogen is one of the potential energy sources for the future. The energy content of hydro- gen is the highest per unit of weight of any fuel and it is low polluting. The main technologies to produce hydrogen are steam reformation of hydrocarbons and water splitting. The disadvantage of steam reforming is the production of carbon dioxide, while the disadvantage of water splitting is its high cost and low efﬁciency (Acar and Dincer, 2014). Producing hydrogen during corrosion of certain metals has enchanted the researchers for many years, due to it is minimal cost, high efﬁciency, and because it does not require sophisticated technology (Czech and Troczynski, 2010; Deyab, 2013b; Hultquist et al., 2011; Soler et al., 2009). Mg is one of the most abundant elements in the cosmos. Magnesium and its scrap could be utilized as the source for hydrogen production due to their high reactivity and cheap price (Noviana et al., 2016; Song et al., 2014; Uan et al., 2009; Yu et al., 2012). The hydrogen evolution may take place according to the following electrochemical equations: Mg ! Mg +2 + 2e ð1Þ 2H + + 2e ! H 2 : ð2Þ The amount of hydrogen evolved can be controlled by corrosion inhibitors (Eid and Hassan, 2015; El-Etre et al., 2017; Mabrouk et al., 2017). Many organic surfactants, e.g., Tween and Triton X-series, have been applied as cor- rosion inhibitors due to their minimal cost, elevated protec- tion efﬁciency, simple preparation, and because they are nonpoisonous (Abdel Fattah et al., 2014; Abdullatef, 2017; Fuchs-Godec and zerjav, 2009). The goal of this research is to study hydrogen production during the corrosion of magnesium in HCl using chemical techniques. The inﬂuence of HCl concentration, immersion time, stirring, and temperature on the process was studied. * Salah Eid eedsalah@yahoo.com 1 Chemistry Department, Faculty of science, Benha University, Benha, Egypt 2 Chemistry Department, College of Science and Arts, Alqurayat, Jouf University, KSA J Surfact Deterg (2018) J Surfact Deterg (2018) DOI 10.1002/jsde.12208