Thermal stability of diesel fuels by quantitative gravimetric JFTOT
- Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC (United States)
The current worldwide standard test method for assessing thermal stability of jet turbine aviation fuels is the ASTM D3241 method. This method generates a visual tube deposit rating which is not quantitative, but assumes that very dark colors equate to unstable fuels. The tube rating is coded against color standards and the darkest color is usually said to fail a fuel for use in jet turbine engines/fuel systems. The method also generates a semi-quantitative filter pressure drop. The pressure drop is so semi-quantitative that it also is afforded a pass/fail criterion for fuel acceptance in jet aircraft. In 1991, we described the construction of a test device which duplicated all of the experimentally important parameters of the D3241 method but which substituted a weighable 302 stainless steel (s/s) foil strip for the bulky tube, so that direct weighing of thermal surface deposits could be made. In addition, the nominal 17 micron (dutch weave) s/s filter of the D3241 was substituted with a nylon membrane 0.8 micron filter which was also capable of direct weighing of the fuel entrained solids generated by the test. In subsequent papers, the use of this device for generating a large data base of results based on aviation fuels from many different refinery processes and many different geographic/crude sources was described. In addition this new device, dubbed the gravimetric jet fuel total oxidation tester (JFTOT) after the original ASTM D3241 device, was also used to assess quantitatively the effects of temperature, pressure, and fuel flow in addition to the effects of dissolved metals and various fuel additives. This paper describes the JFTOT test for the analysis of middle distillate diesel fuels.
- OSTI ID:
- 254820
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-940813--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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