However, producing renewable fuels at scale is not without its challenges. From handling highly corrosive feedstocks to balancing capital expenditure and operational costs (OPEX), the biofuels industry must find smarter, more sustainable solutions to remain competitive.
Materials innovation plays a pivotal role in meeting these challenges.
For decades, Alleima has partnered with producers to support the shift from fossil-based fuels to renewable fuels and biofuels.
Today, its advanced alloy solutions are enabling biofuel producers to reduce costs, improve process reliability, and lower their environmental footprint.
One standout innovation is Sanicro® 35 (UNS: N08935), a super austenitic alloy engineered to deliver high corrosion resistance while reducing dependence on costly nickel-based materials.
With growing adoption across renewable fuel plants, Sanicro® 35 is helping biofuel producers build infrastructure that is both economically and environmentally sustainable.
Biofuel production: Complex processes and harsh conditions
The production of renewable fuels such as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is expanding rapidly. Emerging processes like Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and alcohol-to-jet conversion are critical to meeting future demand.
However, renewable feedstocks — such as used cooking oil, waste wood, plastics and municipal waste — often contain impurities like salts, chlorides, fluorides, and other corrosive compounds.
These impurities present severe corrosion risks in key process equipment, including:
- Heat exchangers;
- Distillation towers;
- Reactor piping systems.
To withstand these conditions, producers have traditionally relied on nickel-based alloys such as Alloy 625 and C-276. These alloys offer strong resistance to localised and stress corrosion cracking but come at high cost, especially when used extensively in greenfield facilities or refinery upgrades.
For a rapidly growing industry under pressure to scale sustainably, finding lower-cost, high-performance alternatives is vital.
Sanicro® 35: Bridging the gap between performance and cost
Alleima’s Sanicro® 35 was designed specifically to reduce over-specification while maintaining excellent corrosion resistance in demanding process environments.
Key benefits for biofuels production:
- Comparable corrosion resistance to Alloy 625 in many refinery applications;
- Lower nickel and molybdenum content, significantly reducing raw material costs;
- Potential to replace C-276 in some of the most aggressive process conditions;
- Optimised for heat exchangers, pre-treatment units and reactor piping.By replacing higher-nickel alloys with Sanicro® 35, producers can cut material costs substantially without compromising long-term equipment performance.
Real-world success: Pre-treatment plant cost savings
In one recent project, Alloy C-276 was initially specified for a new biofuel pre-treatment plant, making the project prohibitively expensive.
Alleima collaborated with the engineering firm and plant operator to evaluate Sanicro® 35 as an alternative.
Through advanced laboratory testing under simulated process conditions, Sanicro® 35 demonstrated minimal corrosion, proving its suitability for the application.
Outcome:
- Piping and heat exchangers were specified with Sanicro® 35 as an option, providing direct cost comparisons;
- Ultimately, all shell-and-tube heat exchangers and reactor piping were built with Sanicro® 35, resulting in significant capital expenditure savings.
Lower carbon footprint through smarter material choices
As sustainability becomes a key driver in the biofuels industry, material selection plays a crucial role. Producing high-alloy nickel materials is energy-intensive and carbon-heavy, especially when sourced from regions with fossil-fuel-based energy grids.
Alleima’s Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies reveal that Sanicro® 35 has:
- 30% lower carbon footprint compared to Alloy 625 produced in Alleima’s Northern European facilities;
- Up to 60% lower footprint compared to Alloy 625 produced in regions with higher fossil energy usage.
This is achieved through:
- Fossil-free electricity in manufacturing processes
- Continuous efforts to reduce emissions and energy use across production
By choosing Sanicro® 35, biofuel producers are not only lowering project costs but also reducing the embedded carbon footprint of their facilities, supporting their broader decarbonisation goals.
Accelerating the biofuels transition
The biofuels industry is at a critical inflection point. As global demand for renewable fuels, especially SAF, surges, producers must overcome technical and economic barriers to scale up quickly and sustainably.
Sanicro® 35 represents a game-changing material solution, offering:
- Lower costs compared to traditional nickel-based alloys;
- High corrosion resistance for challenging feedstocks;
- A more sustainable production footprint.
By adopting advanced materials like Sanicro® 35, the industry can accelerate refinery construction, streamline upgrades and ensure long-term operational efficiency, ultimately driving the energy transition forward.
For more information: Visit alleima.com. This article was written by Jonas Höwing Alleima, EMEA, Sweden, and Barinder Ghai Alleima EMEA, UK
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