The role of typical hydrocarbon building blocks of gas-to-liquid (GTL) derived jet fuels on their physical and chemical properties have been investigated. The ultimate goal of our studies is to develop accurate composition−property relationships for synthetic fuels to be used in optimizing synthetic fuel properties as per the aviation industry standards. The composition−property analysis has been carried out through formulating in-house fuel blends using neat GTL fuel building blocks (normal-, iso-, and cyclo-paraffins). Typical properties of interest in this study are density, freezing point, flash point, and heat content, all of which are essential for jet fuel certification. The systematic approach developed in this study was to identify an optimized region, in which all major properties for aviation standards are met. Different techniques were used, including the development of ternary mapping of these aforementioned building blocks alongside their physical properties. This has been achieved through formulating 35 blends giving a broad spread across the ternary map and generating a database from the experimental results. The optimized region and the composition−property relationships were obtained through building a statistical model of artificial neutral networks (ANNs) using the data generated as its basis. The generated data show that some properties, such as freezing point, exhibit nonlinear results whereas others are strongly linear, such as density and heat content. Aromatics in jet fuels are impactful (and required) even though their environmental harms are evident, and as such, their role on certain properties was preliminarily investigated. Furthermore it has been observed that different crystal shapes exist within some areas in the freezing point ternary map. Finally, the use of mathematical models as predictive tools was investigated, and in most instances the model developed was accurate. The outcome of the current study has been used to develop a new visualization technique for the relationship between GTL synthetic paraffinic kerosene's and their building blocks (i.e., paraffinic hydrocarbons).

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(TAMUQ) and the Manger its Fuel Characterization Lab. He has over sixteen years of research and teaching experience. His research activities are mainly focused on design of advanced reactors and processes for the XTL technology (coalto-liquid, gas-to-liquid and biomass-to liquid), and development of catalysts for the petrochemical and environmental industry. He holds several US and European patents and tremendous publications in form of peer reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings as well as conference and industry technical reports publications. He completed research studies on design of reactor technology and applied catalysis for several world-leading companies (BASF Corporation, and SABIC R&T). He is currently leading a research team whose funds exceed 5 million US dollars in collaboration with researchers from eight prestigious universities around the globe and with scientists from world-leading industries. The scholarship of his research activities has been recognized by Qatar Foundation's 2012 Best Energy & Environment Research Programme of the year in addition to awards the Gordon Research Conferences, BASF Corporation,

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