Understanding Environmental Stress Cracking of Polyethylene by Biodiesel Fuel

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The rise of biofuels in the transportation industry has provided increased energy security and furthered the longevity of petroleum resources. Biodiesel is synthesized from animal or plant fatty acid derivatives, producing a fuel with much different flow and energy properties to standard diesel fuel. Introducing alternative fuels into a petrol-based systems, however, is often not achieved without challenges. The industry is grappling with fuel tanks in marine vessels and agricultural farming equipment which are failing quickly after transitioning to the alternative fuel. Extensive compatibility studies of biofuel with the polymers typically used in these fuel tanks, polyethylene and polyamide, have shown little evidence of degradative damage by chemical or microbial means. However, recent research within the group of the applicant is suggesting that biodiesel fuel may be an environmental stress cracking agent, which means it affects the organization of polymer chains rather than attacks them directly. This proposal seeks to understand the process by which biodiesel interacts with polyethylene, as the fuel seems to influence different grades of polyethylene differently from the more commonly studied detergents as stress cracking agents. The two year study will examine the ingress of biodiesel into different grades of polyethylene and characterize the organizational changes using mechanical, spectroscopic, X-ray, and acoustic techniques. The work will train a Masters and Doctoral level HQP in experimental and analysis skills, as well as develop communications and leadership skills. The outcome of the work will be transferred to the polymer industry to guide formulation improvements in fuel tanks such that they are more resistant to biodiesel. The research will benefit Canadian resin suppliers and tank & piping manufacturers, by reducing their liability to product failures. The work will further benefit the Canadian suppliers of biodiesel, which have seen some retraction of their markets recently due to inexplicable failures of tanks, especially in the marine sector.