Abstract
International audience; Essential oil of aerial parts of Warionia saharea was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC and GC/MS. 39 compounds accounting for 93.2 ± 1.9% of the oil were identified. β-Eudesmol (34.9 %), Nerolidol-E (23%) and Linalool (15.2 %) were the most abundant components. The inhibition of the corrosion of mild steel in sulfuric acid solution by Warionia saharea essential oil has been studied using weight loss measurements. Inhibition was found to increase with increasing concentration of the essential oil to attain 74% at 3g/L. The effect of temperature, immersion time on the corrosion behaviour of mild steel in 0.5M H2SO4 without and with the W. saharea oil at 3 g/L was also studied. The associated activation energy has been determined. The inhibition was assumed to occur via adsorption of the inhibitor molecules on the metal surface. The adsorption of the molecules of the essential oil on the mild steel surface obeyed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The results obtained showed that the Warionia saharea essential oil could serve as an effective inhibitor of the corrosion of mild steel in sulfuric acid media.