Fuel and emission reduction assessment for civil aircraft engine fleet on-wing washing

Abstract

On-wing washing for civil aviation engine is an important approach to improve the Exhaust Gas Temperature Margin (EGTM), and to reduce the fuel consumption as well as the resultant aviation emission. In view of the fuel flow reduction achieved by on-wing washing, this study proposes an estimation method of engine performance improvement due to washing according to fleet fuel consumption savings and engine washing costs. Finally, the engine washing interval of a fleet can be optimized based on the proposed performance assessment method of on-wing washing. A case study of one airline fleet of 200 CFM56 Engines demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results show that the optimal washing interval is 3 times a year, and that an average annual cost savings of 20.15 million dollars can be achieved by reducing 5471 ton fuel consumption and 17,250 ton CO2 emission.