How about using carbon steel for the pipelines in the same container for ethanol and propanol?
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The ethanol/propane storage tanks in our company are made of carbon steel, but the pipelines are made of stainless steel. I think they should all be made of carbon steel as well; that shouldn’t be a problem, right?
From a corrosion perspective, there is no problem, but the requirements of the production process regarding the pipe material also need to be considered.
Carbon steel is generally suitable for pipelines used with ethanol and propanol; corrosion hardly occurs, and the service life is relatively long. However, ethanol and propanol sometimes contain small amounts of acidic substances such as acetic acid, propionic acid, and formic acid, which can cause some corrosion to the pipelines and lead to an increase in iron ions in the system. In severe cases, this can give the solution a slight color change, and this effect is more noticeable when the system is restarted after being shut down. If high standards are required regarding iron ions and other components in the system, it is advisable to use stainless steel as a precaution.