Comparison of Synthetic Isoparaffinic Kerosene Turbine Fuels with the Composition-Explicit Distillation Curve Method

Abstract

In recent years, civilian and military users of aviation kerosene have been interested in expanding the scope of fuel feed stocks to include nonpetroleum sources. There are many reasons for this, the most important of which are the potential minimization of supply disruptions, the minimization of dependence on foreign sources of petroleum, the vulnerability of large centralized refineries, and the rising costs of current fuel streams. It is unlikely that a completely new, drop-in replacement fuel will be successful in the foreseeable future. In the meantime, however, the goal is to extend or enhance present petroleum-derived stocks. For this to be done on a rational basis, careful attention must be paid to fuel design parameters, one of the most important of which is the fluid volatility as expressed by the distillation curve. We have recently introduced several important improvements in the measurement of distillation curves of complex fluids. The modifications to the classical measurement provide for (1) a composition explicit data channel for each distillate fraction (for both qualitative and quantitative analysis); (2) temperature measurements that are true thermodynamic state points that can be modeled with an equation of state; (3) temperature, volume, and pressure measurements of low uncertainty suitable for equation of state development; (4) consistency with a century of historical data; (5) an assessment of the energy content of each distillate fraction; (6) trace chemical analysis of each distillate fraction; and (7) a corrosivity assessment of each distillate fraction. The composition explicit channel is achieved with a new sampling approach that allows precise qualitative as well as quantitative analyses of each fraction, on the fly. We have applied the new method to the measurement of rocket propellant, gasolines, jet fuels, and hydrocarbon crude oils. In this paper, we present the application of the technique to compare the characteristics of several new synthetic isoparaffinic kerosenes that are being used or tested as turbine fuels. These fuels include synthetics made from natural gas, coal, and waste greases.