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Received: April 16, 2019; Revised: June 14, 2019; Accepted: June 14, 2019
Abstract: The International Maritime Organization (IMO) will administer a new 0.5% global sulfur cap on fuel content from 1 January 2020, lowering from the present 3.5% limit. Seawater SOx (sulfur oxide) scrubbing is especially spray scrubbing and a promising alternative to complying with the IMO regulation. However, the ionization of SO2 (sulfur dioxide) and the H2SO4 (sulfuric acid) formed from SO3 (sulfur trioxide) is proposed to accelerate corrosion of the internal seawater pipe. Apparently, the corrosion of the scrubber seawater piping system occurs in a severe and frequent manner. Hence, in this study, electrochemical measurement and weight loss of carbon steel (used as seawater pipe in most of the ships) in diluted sulfuric acid solution were investigated to determine corrosion rate, corrosion current density, corrosion potential, electrochemical behavior, and impressed-current density. Accordingly, the corrosion rate of carbon steel sheet in various diluted sulfuric acid solutions was observed to be greater than that in natural seawater, thus suggesting the fundamental data to deal with corrosion problems in scrubber seawater pipe.