The Corrosive Well Waters of Egypt's Western Desert
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The Corrosive Well Waters of Egypt's Western Desert GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1757-O Prepared in cooperation with the Arab Republic of Egypt under the auspices of the United States Agency for International Development The Corrosive Well Waters of Egypt's Western Desert By FRANK E. CLARKE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HYDROLOGY OF AFRICA AND THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1757-O Prepared in Cooperation with the Arab Republic of Egypt under the auspices of the United States Agency for International Development UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1979 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR CECIL D. ANDRUS, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY H. William Menard, Director Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Clarke, Frank Eldridge, 1913 The corrosive well waters of Egypt's western desert. (Contributions to the hydrology of Africa and the Mediterranean region) (Geological Survey water-supply paper; 1757-0) "Prepared in cooperation with the Arab Republic of Egypt, under the aus pices of the United States Agency for International Development." Bibliography: p. Includes index Supt. of Docs. no. : I 19.16 : 1757-0 1. Corrosion resistant materials. 2. Water, Underground Egypt. 3. Water quality Egypt. 4. Wells Egypt Corrosion. 5. Pumping machinery Cor rosion. I. United States. Agency for International Development. II. Title. III. Series. IV. Series: United States. Geological Survey. Water-supply paper; 1757-0. TA418.75.C58 627'.52 79-607011 For sale by Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 Stock Number 024-OOL-03234-1 CONTENTS Page Abstract ___________________________________ Ol Introduction _______________________________________________ 3 Acknowledgments ________________________________ 3 Environmental setting __________________________ 5 Evolution and design characteristics of Western Desert wells _____ 9 Corrosion observations and investigations ____________________ 10 Quality characteristics of New Valley well waters ___________ 33 Causes of corrosion _______________________________________ 41 Control of corrosion ________________________________________ 47 Pumps and their problems ________________________________ 50 Opportunities for further study ________________________ 53 Summary ______________________________________ 53 References _____________________________________________ 54 ILLUSTRATIONS FRONTISPIECE. Flowing well, Kharga Oasis, 1961 ___________ VI FIGURE 1. Map showing principal features of Egypt's Western Desert and the boundary of the New Valley Project __ O2 2. Site and well location map, New Valley area, Egypt's Western Desert __________________________ ____ 5 3. Macrograph of Nubian sandstone showing loosely ce mented angular grains, X 34 ___________ _ __ 6 4. Sketch of native well drilling equipment ____ ____ 8 5. Photograph of Acacia wood casing from native well, Kharga Oasis ____________________ _______ 9 6. Photograph of perforated elbow, Mut well 1, Dakhla Oasis ______________________________________ 14 7. Photograph of severed screen bridge, Kharga well 1A, Kharga Oasis, X 4.6 _______________________ _ 16 8. Photograph of corroded discharge line, Kharga well 1A, Kharga Oasis _____________________ _ ___ _ 17 in IV CONTENTS Page FIGURE 9. Photograph of surface line corrosion specimen?, Kharga well 1A, Kharga Oasis ___________________ 017 10. Sketch of stainless steel stress corrosion specimen used in Kharga well 1A __________________ ____ 18 11. Photograph of subsurface pitting, Kharga well 1A, x 5 19 12. Photograph of white corrosion tubercles, aluminum spec imen, Kharga well 1A, x 1 --- ____________ 20 13. Photograph of corroded bridge-slotted screen, after 2- year exposure, Kharga well 1A ___________--- 21 14. Photograph of downhole corrosion specimen string, Mut well 2, Dakhla Oasis _____________________ 22 15. Photograph of deep, deposit-free corrosion, steel specimen, Mut well 1, Dakhla Oasis, x 7 _______________ 23 16. Photograph of severely corroded bridge-slotted steel speci men from down-hole string, Mut well 2 ___________ 24 17. Photograph of corroded aluminum specimen from down- hole string, Mut well 2 _________-_______- 25 18. Photograph of undamaged stainless steel screen specimen, surface line, Mut well 1, X 5 _.________________ 26 19. Photograph of slightly corroded Monel Metal specimen down-hole string, Mut well 2 _______-______ 27 20. Photograph of Mohammed Shaaban, Egyptiar General Desert Development Organization, operating a corroso- meter, Kharga well 1 _____________________________ 28 21. Photograph of corrosion probe and shield ____________ 29 22. Photograph of corroded steel probe wire, Baris well 11, Kharga Oasis, x 12 ____________________ 30 23. Corrosion rate curves, Kharga Oasis wells ___________ 32 24. Corrosion rate curves, Dakhla Oasis wells ____________ 33 25. Photograph of etched aluminum probe, Kharga well 1A, X 10 _________________________________ __- 34 26. Photograph of corroded aluminum probe, Nass^r well 1, X 11 -_-_______________________________ 35 27. Photograph of Hassan Mostafa, Egyptian General Desert Development Organization, and the late Paul Bieber, U.S. Geological Survey, measuring bicarbonate ion in water from a Kharga Oasis well, 1962 _________ 36 28. Photograph of flow cell for measuring Eh ___________ 37 29. Trilinear diagram showing ionic balances of New Valley well waters __________________________ 41 30. Graph showing relation of sulfochloride concentration to corrosion rate ________________________________ 44 31. Stability field diagram, ferric and ferrous species, as suming 2 X 10~7 molal activity of iron and based on Fe(OH) 3 _________________________________ 45 32. Graph showing relation of calcium carbonate equilibrium to corrosion rate ____________________________ 46 33. Photograph of key-lock joint, fiberglass well pipe ______ 49 34. Photograph of Kanat at nonflowing well, Kharpa Oasis__ 51 r. FRONTISPIECE. Flowing well, Kharga Oasis, 1961. CONTENTS TABLES Page TABLE 1. Well obstruction and self-potential data _________ 012 2. Redox potential (Eh) and geotrode data, Kharga Wells 13 3. Long-line current data, Kharga wells ___________- 14 4. Water-quality data, selected New Valley wells ____ 38 5. Gas composition, selected New Valley wells -___-__ 40 6. New Valley wells being pumped, 1976 ____________ 52 CONVERSION FACTORS Factors for converting from International System of Units (SI) to Inch- pound units are given below to three or four significant figures. However, in actual conversions, inch-pound equivalents should be determined only to the number of significant figures consistent with the SI counterparts. SI UNIT MULTIPLY BY = INCH-POUND millimeter (mm) 0.03937 inch (in) centimeter (cm) 0.3937 inch (in) meter (m) 3.281 foot (ft) square kilomter (km 2) 0.3861 square mile (mi 2) million cubic meters (Mm s) 810.80 acre-feet (acre-ft) cubic meters per day (m Yd) 35.30 cubic feet per day (ft s/d) centimeter per second (cm/s) 0.0328 foot per second (ft/s) degree Celsius ( ° C) 9/5 ( ° C)+32 degree Fahrenheit ( ° F) metric ton (t) 1.10 short ton, (2,000 Ib) CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HYDROLOGY OF AFRICA AND THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION THE CORROSIVE WELL WATERS OF EGYPT'S WESTERN DESERT By FRANK E. CLARKE ABSTRACT The discovery that ground waters of Egypt's Western Desert are highly corrosive is lost in antiquity. Inhabitants of the oases have been aware of the troublesome property for many decades and early investigators mention it in their reports concerning the area. Introduction of modern well-drilling techniques and replacements of native wood casing with steel during the 20th century increased corrosion problems and, in what is called the New Valley Project, led to an intense search for causes and corrective treatments. This revealed that extreme corrosiveness results from combined effects of rela tively acidic waters with significant concentrations of destructive sulfide ion; unfavorable ratios of sulfate and chloride to less aggressive ions; mineral equilibria and electrode potential which hinder formation of pro tective films; relative high chemical reaction rates because of abnormal tem peratures, and high surface velocities related to well design. There is general agreement among investigators that conventional cor rosion control methods such as coating metal surfaces, chemical treatment of the water, and electrolytic protection with impressed current and sacri ficial electrodes are ineffective or impracticable for wells in the Western Desert's New Valley. Thus, control must be sought through the use of ma terials more resistant to corrosion than plain carbon steel wherever well screens and casings are necessary. Of the alternatives considered, stainless steel appears to be the most promising where high strength and long-term services are required and the alloy's relatively high cost is acceptable. Epoxy resin-bonded fiberglass and wood appear to be practicable, relatively inex pensive alternatives for installations which do not exceed their strength limitations. Other materials such as high strength aluminum and Monel Metal have shown sufficient promise to merit their consideration in par ticular locations and uses. The limited experience with pumping in these desert wells leaves uncertainties concerning the durability of conventional pump designs. Egypt's New Valley Project provides an excellent opportunity for con tinuing study of the corrosion problems that concern ground-water de velopers in many parts of the world. 01 02 THE