In carbon capture utilisation and storage systems, impurities in captured CO2 streams can strongly alter corrosion behaviour, yet their interactive mechanisms remain poorly understood. This study investigated the corrosion behaviour of API L80-1Cr carbon steel under impurities – H2S, SO2 and HNO3 present in aqueous CO2 in simulated conditions relevant to carbon capture utilisation and storage systems but at ambient pressure and temperatures of 5 °C and 30 °C. The individual and combined effects of these impurities on corrosion rates of carbon steel and its morphology were examined by using potentiodynamic polarisation, linear polarisation resistance, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The results showed key novel findings: (i) corrosion in HNO3 environments that proceeds by pit initiation followed by pseudo-passivation, and (ii) antagonistic effects in multi-impurity systems, where simultaneous presence of H2S, SO2 and HNO3 produces corrosion rates comparable to or lower than HNO3 alone, contradicting the prevailing assumption of additive aggressiveness. (iii) Sequential impurity exposure further revealed that H2S can stabilise surfaces pre-corroded by HNO3 through the formation of protective sulphide layers, while SO2 consistently destabilises both sulphide and nitrate modified surfaces. Collectively, these findings provide essential mechanistic insights, refine the understanding of impurity interactions in CO2 transport environments and highlight the importance of considering impurity interplay, not only single-species effects, in the design of resilient carbon capture utilisation and storage infrastructure.
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