Impact of corrosion on selection of structural materials for thermochemical processing of biomass

Thermochemical processing offers a promising method to utilize biomass resources that are readily available in much of the world. Torrefaction, liquefaction and gasification of biomass produce solid, liquid and/or gaseous compounds most of which, in the case of torrefaction and liquefaction, are organic. These compounds can be utilized as produced or they can be subjected to further processing to produce products of higher value. Our laboratory has conducted studies to assess the performance of structural materials, both metallic and refractory, in the environments developed during the production, processing, transport and storage of these biomass-derived products. These studies include characterization of the biomass derived products, laboratory corrosion studies of candidate structural materials in the products, exposure of samples in operating biomass processing systems and examination of the exposed samples as well as components removed from some of these processing systems. This paper describes the studies that are intended to assess and define the extent of corrosion issues, identify corrosion mechanisms and provide the information required to permit selection of the most durable, lowest cost materials to aid widespread scale up and commercial adoption of these technologies.