Session: Corrosion in the Biofuel and Biomass Industry
Effect of temperature in acceleration and mitigation of free fatty acid corrosion in renewable applications (C2026-00429)
Monday, March 16, 2026
10:00 AM - 10:30 AM Central
Location: 371 AB
Earn .5 PDH
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Renewable natural oils are used as feedstock in the production of renewable diesel (RD) and sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). Prediction of hot oil corrosion for renewable feedstock depends on a fundamental understanding of how heat affects the concentration of corrosive carboxylic aids. Renewable feeds are neutral fatty acid triglycerides (FATs) with some level of free fatty acids (FFA). Akin to naphthenic acids (NAP) found in fossil crudes, FFA in renewable feeds are carboxylic acids (CA). Unlike petroleum where heating only distributes naphthenic acids (NAP) across heavier distillate fractions, heating FATs above 280˚C releases additional FFA into liquid fractions When heated with sufficient severity (time at temperature), FATs can generate high liquid phase concentration of FFA (TAN > 180). However, the FFA in common FATs have boiling points near 380-390C. CA are corrosive between 200-400C in the liquid phase, but not the vapor phase, because liquids remove oil soluble oxidized metal compounds. Hence, the corrosion potential decreases when a vapor phase is formed. For renewable feed processing , predicting “acid critical” locations is a function of FFA thermal generation from FATS and depletion by volatilization as well as decomposition. This paper describes thermal effects on FFA corrosivity and predictive corrosion modeling.
