Study of Corrosion Effects of Oxidized Ethanol–Gasoline Blends on Metallic Materials

Abstract

Bioethanol added into gasolines significantly changes the physical and chemical properties of the resulting fuels and can have a considerable influence on their overall thermo-oxidative stability. During fuel oxidation, different oxidation products such as water, acidic substances, and peroxides are formed and these can have corrosive effects on metallic construction materials of the storage and transportation equipment, engines, and fuel lines of automobiles, etc. In this work, we tested the laboratory prepared ethanol–gasoline blends (EGBs) E10, E25, E40, E60, and E85, which were artificially oxidized depending on their induction period. The oxidized fuels were used to study their corrosion aggressiveness after their thermal load in the presence of oxygen or after the expiry of their shelf life. The corrosion properties of these fuels were tested on steel, copper, aluminum, and brass using electrochemical methods such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and Tafel curve analysis. For comparison, st...