Preliminary results have shown that the carbon steel is susceptible to pitting corrosion in
certain ethanol environments. Immersion tests, cyclic polarization tests, and
electrochemical impedance measurements were carried out on X-65 carbon steel
specimens in various ethanol-water environments by adjusting the composition in
simulated fuel grade ethanol (FGE) mixture. FGE solutions with 5% to 10% water
concentration strongly promoted both the general corrosion as well as the pitting
corrosion on pipeline steel. Pit size and density was found to change with the amount of
water in these chloride containing FGE solutions. Amount of acetic acid in FGE did not
show significant effect on the pitting tendency; however, small amounts of hydroxide
addition stopped pitting of carbon steel in FGE.
Keywords: pitting corrosion, ethanol, fuel grade ethanol, carbon steel, pipeline steel