Investigation of Combustion Characteristics of Future Generation Military Aviation Turbine FuelsSQNLDR Ulas YILDIRIM

Background• Jet fuel - 8 and 16 carbon atoms; depend on the feedstock• Impossible to define exact composition. Traditionally highest quality

available; fostered conservatism by OEMs• Aviation fuel production relies on accumulated experience

Background• Peak oil• Research into production of alternative fuels• Challenge – must be ‘drop-in’ i.e. no alterations to:

– Aircraft components– Ship hardware– Existing infrastructure

• Fischer Tropsch SPK (FT SPK) – 1999• Bio derived Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene (Bio SPK) – 2012• Synthesized Iso-Paraffins (SIP) – 2014• Alcohol to Jet (ATJ) – 2016

Research• Using a small gas turbine to determine the impact of narrow distillation

profile SPK on:– Ignition Delay – Lean Blowout

Bench level testing

Bench level testing

GT testing movies

GT stations

Results

Results

Results

So what?• At very high combustion efficiencies

– ηc = Combustion efficiency – defined by combustion limiting factors

• ηc limiting factor has historically been assumed to be evaporation rate (ηe) only

• A. Lefebvre - Gas Turbine Combustion Alternative Fuels and Emissions 3rd Ed, 2010

Acknowledgements• Primary Supervisor – Professor Sylvester Abanteriba (RMIT)• Secondary Supervisor – Dr David Evans (Defence Science and Technology

Group) • Mr Glen Rowlinson (Defence Science and Technology Group)• Mr Benny Capraro (Defence Science and Technology Group)• Mr Paul Rawson (Defence Science and Technology Group)