Application of the Advanced Distillation Curve Method to the Development of Unleaded Aviation Gasoline

Abstract

The primary fuel used within the general aviation industry is a petroleum-based gasoline blended with small amounts of tetraethyl lead (a lead-based additive used to increase the octane number of gasoline without affecting its performance) called 100LL aviation gasoline. Lately, concern has mounted regarding the health effects of leaded aviation gasoline (typically called avgas). This concern, in addition to the increasing price of 100LL, has led to research involved with developing an unleaded avgas with the ability to meet performance regulations and safely operate the entire general aviation fleet without engine modifications. In this paper, we assess the vapor liquid equilibrium of two newly developed unleaded avgas fluids. For complex fluids, such as gasoline, the distillation curve provides the most practical approximation of this property. The distillation curves of these two fluids were measured by use of the advanced distillation curve method. The advanced distillation curve method uses temperatu...