Techniques for Monitoring Conditions Leading to SCC of Carbon Steel in Fuel Grade Ethanol

This paper discusses a variety of techniques that can be used to monitor conditions that could lead to SCC of carbon steel in fuel grade ethanol. Parameters considered in this paper include corrosion potential, dissolved oxygen, and electrochemical kinetic parameters. Both dissolved oxygen and corrosion potential have been shown to be important parameters for indicating the occurrence of SCC. SCC does not occur if the corrosion potential or the dissolved oxygen is below a certain level. However, some ethanol compositions result in a high corrosion potential and in such a case SCC does not occur even when the corrosion potential or the dissolved oxygen is high. The implications of these observations for monitoring SCC in the field are discussed.