Sales gas pipeline systems with large diameters and long pipeline lengths can experience
the formation of large quantities of black powder. There are a variety of iron oxides, iron
carbonates, iron sulphides, and other contaminants that comprise black powder. Black powder
formation can be caused by several corrosive gases, including oxygen, carbon dioxide, and
hydrogen sulfide. Previously published literature is reviewed with the aim of understanding how
black powder forms, and to aid in the design of experiments that can measure black powder
formation. Several simple experiments are described to examine the process of corrosion in
sales gas lines. The experiments test the use of corrosion inhibiting chemicals to retard black
powder formation in sales gas pipelines.
Keywords: Black powder, corrosion testing, carbon dioxide corrosion, oxygen corrosion,
corrosion inhibition