SBIR-STTR Award

Jet fuel used by the United States Military, JP-8, is the combination of standard Jet-A fuel with three additives: corrosion inhibitor (CI/LI), fuel system icing inhibitor (FSII) and static dispersive additive (SDA).In the theater of operations, these additives may be added by either the supplier or by military personnel.Although FSII and SDA in fuel can be measured with refractive index and conductivity respectively, no reliable field method exist for determination of CI/LI in fuel.A need therefore exist for a portable, field deployable instrument to quantify CI/LI in JP-8; ideally, the instrument could quantify all three additives.Several methods have been proposed; however, none combine the sensitivity, selectivity and simplicity to be a field deployable method.IP 583 is a well-established method for measurement of FAME in jet fuel by combining FTIR spectroscopy with a solid phase extraction technique.An instrument based on this method, the MFA, has recently been demonstrated to be rugged and field deployable. Both CI/LI and FSII are also polar compounds.We propose to expand the MFAs capabilities and calibration to add both CI/LI and FSII quantitative measurements.Additionally, we will prototype the addition of a conductivity sensor, allowing quantification of all three additives.

Military jet fuel, JP-8, is distinguished from commercial jet fuel by the mandatory use of three additives: CI/LI, FSII and SDA. These additives may be added at any one of many steps in the fuel distribution chain. Field measurement of the additives is important to insure their presence and to prevent duplicate addition in fuels which have been previously treated. Currently, ASTM method D2624 can be used to measure SDA in JP-8; furthermore, FSII can be measured by refractive index. Unfortunately, though, there are no currently available methods for the measurement of CI/LI in a field application.