Material Compatibility in Renewable Fuels and Characterization Methods

Rüdiger Reitz, C. T. Engler, and M. Oechsner

Center for Structural Materials (MPA-IfW), TU Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany

Abstract: Renewable fuels can make a significant contribution to achieving climate protection targets. In addition to 2nd generation biogenic fuels, synthetic fuels such as OME and DMC show in particular great potential. With respect to metallic materials, however, there are special challenges with regard to the material compatibility. Investigations with oxygenates such as ethanol or OME have shown that in some cases significant corrosion attack can occur on fuel-carrying components. Besides the respective fuel blend, the input of water and ions in particular increases the corrosiveness. Knowledge of material compatibility is therefore of utmost importance for a successful market acceptance. In this contribution, established and highly innovative test methods to characterize the corrosion behavior in regenerative fuels are illustrated. In addition to the specific experimental setup, a statistical-based test design enables to investigate the influence of corrosion-stimulating components in ethanol-blended gasoline on the material resistance of fuel-carrying aluminum components. The abstraction of the specific results into a ternary system allows a general transferability for other future-oriented oxygenate fuels such as OME.