Black carbon emissions reductions from combustion of alternative jet fuels

Abstract

Recent measurement campaigns for alternative aviation fuels indicate that black carbon emissions from gas turbines are reduced significantly with the use of alternative jet fuels that are low in aromatic content. This could have significant climate and air quality-related benefits that are currently not accounted for in environmental assessments of alternative jet fuels. There is currently no predictive way of estimating aircraft black carbon emissions given an alternative jet fuel. We examine the results from available measurement campaigns and propose a first analytical approximation (termed ‘ASAF’) of the black carbon emissions reduction associated with the use of paraffinic alternative jet fuels. We establish a relationship between the reduction in black carbon emissions relative to conventional jet fuel for a given aircraft, thrust setting relative to maximum rated thrust, and the aromatic volume fraction of the (blended) alternative fuel. The proposed relationship is constrained to produce physically meaningful results, makes use of only one free parameter and is found to explain a majority of the variability in measurements across the engines and fuels that have been tested.