The Importance of Ethanol Purity in Controlling Stress Corrosion Cracking of Carbon Steel

Concern for stress corrosion cracking (SCC) has limited the introduction of fuel grade ethanol into US pipelines. Past laboratory testing has shown that several common impurities are known to enhance SCC potency. Several fuel grade ethanol (FGE) specifications from different countries will be compared. Notched slow strain rate test results from the current work and from previous studies representing different impurity levels allowed by the various specifications will be compared. Although the focus is on specification differences, test results will include FGE manufactured from different organic material, principally corn and sugar cane.