41 Journal of Metallic Material Research | Volume 04 | Issue 01 | April 2021 Distributed under creative commons license 4.0 DOI: https://doi.org/10.30564/jmmr.v4i1.3621 Journal of Metallic Material Research https://ojs.bilpublishing.com/index.php/jmmr ARTICLE Orange Peel Extract Mediated Silver Nanofluid as Corrosion Inhibitor for X80 Steel in Simulated Oil feld Scale Dissolver Ekemini Ituen * Chukwudurom Dim Ekerete BoEKOM Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history Received: 25 August 2021 Accepted: 2 September 2021 Published Online: 6 September 2021 Silver nanofluid was prepared by bio-reduction reaction between orange peels extracts (OPE) and silver nitrate and characterized by spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. Colloidal nanoparticles of sizes between 40 – 50 nm and spherical shape were obtained. The nanofluid was applied as anticorrosion additive to inhibit corrosion of X80 steel in simulated oilfield scale dissolver solution (1.0 M HCl) at various temperatures. The nanofluid (OPE-AgNPs) was 98.9 % and 84.3 % efficient at 30 ºC and 60 oC respectively as determined by weight loss measurement. In comparison with OPE, OPE-AgNPs shows better corrosion inhibition and higher resistance to thermal degradation. Some kinetic and thermodynamic models were used to characterize the inhibition process. OPE-AgNPs could be optimized and used as alternative anticorrosion additive for scale dissolution liquor in the industry. Keywords: Adsorption Corrosion inhibitor Orange peels extract Silver nanoparticles Electron microscopy 1. Introduction Scales are mineral deposits often accumulated downhole, on topsides or on export terminals during petroleum production. They plug the pipework or permeable reservior and cause fow problems. They also contaminate the produced fuid. Operators will be forced into relentless and costly effort to keep the pathway clear to maximize production. This is often achieved through descaling or acid wash operations to remove or decommission scales. The solution used for this procedure is often called scale dissolver and is composed mainly of hydrochloric acid of concentration about 1 M [1,2] . Being acidic in nature, scale dissolvers could create additional problems – corrosive attack on steel materials. Therefore, it is crucial to add corrosion inhibitors to the solution to retard the rate at which the dissolver corrodes the steel surface while maintaining the dissolver in the desired activity. A wide variety of corrosion inhibitors (ranging from organic to inorganic, to organometallic compounds) are available for this purpose [3,4] . However, the corrosion inhibitor (CI) needs to be cheap and environmentally friendly, which makes plant extracts to attract tremendous research attention as potential material for use as corrosion inhibitor. Plant extracts are cheap, readily available and non- toxic. However, plant extracts are easily degraded by heat and biochemical agents. In addition, it is diffcult to store extract-based CIs for a long time as it will biodegrade [3] . Therefore, the need to chemically transform plant extracts into new materials that will not be easily degraded thermally or biochemically, and will exhibit improved inhibition efficiency and longer storage time becomes crucial. In this work, we report the efficiency of a nanofuid obtained by modifcation of plant biomass extract with silver nanoparticles as a new alternative *Corresponding Author: Ekemini Ituen, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria; Email: ekeminiituen@uniuyo.edu.ng