Impact of Free Fatty Acids, Water Content, and Temperature on the Chemical Resistance of Coatings in Biofuel Precursor Storage

Abstract This paper presents an analysis of the chemical resistance of industrial coatings, specifically epoxy and glass flake reinforced vinyl ester, towards fatty acids. The study focuses on understanding how variables such as fatty acid type (chain length/molecular size), water content, and temperature influence the degradation of these coatings. Our findings indicate that the integrity of the coatings is impacted by the aggressiveness of the fatty acids, which is directly linked to the chain length (molecular size), water content, and storage temperature. Smaller molecular size fatty acids, along with increased water content and elevated temperatures, were observed to accelerate the deterioration of the coating materials. These results are crucial for choosing the technology to protect industry assets for storage and handling biofuel precursors based on vegetable oils and fatty acids.