EN
Herein, the optimization of inhibitive action of the ethanol extract of oil from Picralima nitida leaves, towards acid corrosion of zinc, was tested using weight loss and thermometry methods. We found that the extract acts as a good corrosion inhibitor for zinc corrosion in 0.1 M HCl solutions. The inhibition action of the extract was discussed in view of Langmuir adsorption isotherm. This revealed that spontaneous processes govern the adsorption of the extract on zinc surface. Herein, the inhibition efficiency (IE) increases in line with corresponding increase in extract concentration. The temperature effect of the corrosion inhibition on the IE was also studied. This indicated that the presence of the extract increases the needed activation energy of the corrosion reaction. Furthermore, in our work, an optimal inhibition efficiency IE (%) of 86.78 was obtained at optimum inhibitor concentration of 1.2 gl-1, optimum temperature and time of 313 k and 8 hrs, respectively. From the calculated thermodynamic parameters, it can be said, then, that Picralima nitida extract provides good protection to zinc against pitting corrosion in chloride ion containing solutions.