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Measurement of Spray Chamber Ignition Delay and Cetane Numbers for Aviation Turbine Fuels

Journal Article · · Energy and Fuels
Experiments using pure compounds, National Jet Fuels Combustion Program (NJFCP) test fuels, and commercial jet fuels were conducted to demonstrate the equivalence of the indicated cetane number (ICN) and derived cetane number (DCN) for jet fuels. The calibrated range for ICN was also extended to lower cetane number (CN) values (5 to 35) to allow CN quantification for jet fuel synthetic blending components (SBCs) with low CN. ICN and DCN were shown to be highly correlated for values above about 30. This study presents the most comprehensive comparison of these two methods published to date. Because of the importance of low-volume test methods for early-stage SBC production process development, we demonstrated that ICN and DCN can be accurately measured with 15 mL of fuel, well below 40 to 100 mL required by standard methods. ICN or DCN is important for jet fuels because fuels with lower CN are more prone to lean blowout (LBO), an undesirable operational failure in a jet engine. Comparing data on a fuel-to-air ratio (Φ) at LBO for the NJFCP fuels shows similar linear correlations for ICN and DCN. Ignition delay measurements at lower-pressure and higher-temperature conditions may be more directly relevant to LBO. At 675 °C, 0.5 MPa, and a global Φ of roughly 0.68, ignition delay time correlations to LBO were similar to those produced from DCN and ICN. A much weaker correlation was obtained with a global Φ value of 0.34.
Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Office of Sustainable Transportation. Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO); Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
2569423
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 2574768
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA--5400-92091
Journal Information:
Energy and Fuels, Journal Name: Energy and Fuels Journal Issue: 22 Vol. 39; ISSN 1520-5029; ISSN 0887-0624
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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