No abstract

It is anticipated that future jet fuels will be required to handle a thermal stress of approximately 900 °F (480 °C). Such an environment presents many challenges in providing fuels with the necessary thermal oxidative and pyrolytic stability. We report single-tube flow reactor data which suggests that addition of 100 ppm of dicyclohexylphenyl phosphine (DCP) to an air saturated JP-8, followed by stressing up to ∼675 °C, provides significant improvement in both thermal oxidative and pyrolytic stability. In addition, we present our current mechanistic understanding of how DCP might stabilize jet fuels under these extreme conditions. Finally, this work required us to reformulate the electron-transfer-initiated oxygenation (ETIO) mechanism proposed to explain the reaction of DCP with molecular oxygen.

JP-900 is the generic name given to a future jet fuel that will be required to handle an anticipated thermal stress of ∼900 °F (482 °C) for several hours. We report flowing rig scouting results, under approximate JP-900 conditions, examining the effect on both oxidative and pyrolytic stability of the addition of a few volume percent of model refined chemical oil/light cycle oil (RCO/LCO)-derived compounds to a petroleum-derived JP-8. Tetralin, tetralone, and tetralol were used as model hydroaromatic compounds, which, in principle, can be obtained via the hydrotreatment of RCO/LCO blends. Our scouting results suggest that a jet fuel with improved heat sink capabilities could likely be formulated by adding 1% v/v of hydroaromatic compounds to JP-8.