Fuel Testing Approaches for Rapid Jet Fuel Prescreening

Project Number: 065B
Category: Alternative Fuels

This project will introduce a new compact fuel test rig (M1 combustor) to enable prescreening of synthesized fuels, in terms of fundamental combustor behavior, potentially using much lower fuel volumes than currently required for referee rig testing (e.g., gallons vs. hundreds of gallons). The M1 combustor, developed with OEM support as part of the National Jet Fuel Combustion Program (NJFCP), will be used to conduct fuel screening in a simplified and open architecture that can be operated at multiple locations with reduced cost. The Project 065B team will collaborate with Argonne National Laboratory and the Army Research Laboratory to develop and test the M1combustor using advanced diagnostics and modeling capabilities.

Outcomes

The potential use of a compact combustor (M1) for prescreening combustion characteristics of fuels will be evaluated. The process will complement the ASTM D4054 evaluation and qualification guidelines by reducing the uncertainty and cost that results from multi-tiered testing. It is complemented by Project 65a (University of Dayton) which will focus on developing a path for testing small samples (~mL) of candidate fuels to assess the alternative jet fuel’s potential to meet physical and chemical properties that suffice the capital intensive D4054 Tier 3 and 4 requirements.

Last Updated 4/12/2023

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