World Fuel Survey

Project Number: 090
Category: Alternative Jet Fuel

The goal of this new project is to establish a jet fuel sampling and testing program, starting with an initial focus on domestic jet fuels currently in use. The work is focused on gathering a diverse set of jet fuel samples, from both point of manufacture (i.e., fuel refineries) and the point of use (i.e., airports). The research project will update the previous world fuel sampling program that was carried out by the Coordinating Research Council (CRC) in 2006. Since then, changes in jet fuel composition have been anecdotally observed. With the anticipated growth in sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), it will be important to monitor the integration of these fuels into the fuel supply infrastructure. The program will seek to sample jet fuels from across the country and will expand to global sampling at a later phase. With efforts focused on domestic sampling, the program will coordinate with jet fuel refiners, fuel suppliers, and airport fuel consortia to gather fuel samples at various points along the supply chain. The program will provide valuable fuel property data that aircraft original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have identified as a critical need for the aviation industry. This project will be coordinated with CRC and ASTM International. The data will be coordinated in a database effort with the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center.

Outcomes

This project will develop a wide-ranging jet fuel sampling program to test jet fuels currently in use, gathering valuable data on jet fuel properties. This data is of critical need as efforts continue to advance to 100% SAF. To increase current blending volumes beyond current limits of 50%, more detailed information on conventional jet fuel currently in use is needed. This program will provide that data for the aviation industry, expanding current knowledge of jet fuel properties with a robust database to store collected data. This research will ultimately aid the work of the government and industry members of ASTM International to certify novel fuels for their safe use in gas turbine engines.

Last updated 7/20/2023

Lead Investigators

Program Managers