Study on the Formation of Aromatic Compounds during Thermal Degradation of Naphthenic Jet Fuels in the Pyrolytic Regime by NMR and HPLC

摘要

The formation of condensed aromatic structures, with the subsequent deposition of solids, is known to mar the thermal stability of current petroleum based jet fuels (1). Solid deposition is considered to be a growing problem for the aviation industry due to the derive for aircraft operting at higher speed. As the flight speed is increased, the fuel is expected to experience temperatures up to 900 deg F (482 deg C) or higher when it also is functioning as the main coolant for the different electronic and mechanical parts of the jet plane (2) .Even though fairly short residence time is expected at such elevated temperatures, in the range of seconds to a few minutes, commercial paraffinic based jet fuels have shown a high degree of solid deposition or coking (3,4). The main reason for coke formation in paraffin or petroleumderived fuels has been associated with the poor thermal stability of linear alkanes (5,6). Research at PennState has established that a solution can be achieved using cycloalkane-rich liquids, such as coal-derived jet fuels, due to their superior thermal stability compared to petroleum-derived fuels in combination with added hydrogen donors (7-10).