1. Corrosion of biofuel process materials

Several generations of biofuel production technologies can be used to transform different feedstocks of plant or animal origin. The first generation uses lipid feedstocks (mainly vegetable oils) to synthesize ethanol, ethers and methyl esters, which are generally added in varying proportions to fossil fuels. Renewable fats (vegetable, animal) and lignocellulosic biomass, on the other hand, can be used to synthesize advanced or second-generation biofuels that do not compete with food or feed. In this section, we examine the influence of these new inputs, and of the operating conditions of the processes used to transform them, on the corrosion resistance of metal equipment in a biorefinery.