Ethoxylated fatty alcohols as corrosion inhibitors for dissolution of zinc in hydrochloric acid

The effect of some ethoxylated fatty alcohols, with different numbers of ethylene oxide units, on the corrosion of zinc in 0.5 M HCl has been studied using weight loss and polarization measurements. The inhibition efficiency was found to increase with increasing concentration, number of ethylene oxide units per molecule and with decreasing the temperature. Inhibition was explained on the basis of adsorption of ethoxylated fatty alcohols molecules on the metal surface through their ethoxy groups. The degree of surface coverage varied linearly with logarithm of inhibitor concentration fitting Temkin isotherm. The thermodynamic parameters were calculated for the tested system from the data obtained at different temperatures.