Emissions Assessment of Alternative Aviation Fuel at Simulated Altitudes

To address the global fuel challenges of energy security, economic sustainability and climate change the stakeholders of aviation industry are actively pursuing the development and qualification of alternative ‘drop-in’ fuels. New standards will be required to regulate the use of these new fuels, which requires not only fuel specification and rig/engine and flight testing but also an emission life cycle impact assessment of these fuels. This paper reports on emission data measured at various simulated altitudes and engine speeds from a jet engine operated on conventional and alternative aviation fuels. The work was conducted as part of on-going efforts by departments within the Government of Canada to systematically assess regulated as well as non-regulated emissions from the use of alternative aviation fuels. The measurements were performed on an instrumented 1000 N-thrust turbojet engine using a baseline conventional Jet A-1 fuel and a semi-synthetic (50/50) blend with Camelina based Hydroprocessed Renewable Jet (JP8-HRJ8) fuel. Emission results reported here include carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter measured at several simulated altitudes and power settings. In order to ensure that the assessments have a common baseline, relevant engine performance and operability data were also recorded.