Experimental and Kinetic Modelling Study of Jet A-1/Ethanol Blend Combustion and Oxidation Stability

The increasing demand for air transportation leads to higher jet fuel consumption, and numerous researches have been dedicated to finding a sustainable alternative for fossil fuels, such as bioethanol. Fundamental studies on kerosene/ethanol blend have been reported in the literature; however, they lack a kinetic study and experimental validation. This work aims to provide an accurate kinetic model for simulating jet A-1/ethanol flames and the experimental validation. The chemical structure of the jet A-1/ethanol flames and two jet fuel surrogates at three stoichiometries in a premixed flat flame-burner have been measured by employing a thermocouple, OH, NO PLIF thermometry, and gas analysis. The experimental data from this work and the literature validates the proposed reaction mechanism that comprises of 541 reactions among 85 species for modelling the jet A-1/ethanol flames. This models jet A-1 as 89\% n-decane and 11\% toluene while it has a better accuracy than the previous n-decane/toluene model. The jet A-1 autoxidation characteristics have been evaluated by the PetroOXY fuel thermal stability tester, which showed a decrease with ethanol addition. Nine antioxidants have been tested to improve the oxidation stability of ethanol at 1 g/L. A reaction mechanism generator and a custom PetroOXY model have been employed for modelling jet fuel surrogates and ethanol, which were accurate for predicting the autoxidation of ethanol while optimisation to the mechanisms of jet fuel surrogate is required. This work gives a novel contribution for the experimental database of jet A-1, ethanol, the blend, and jet fuel surrogates in a flat-flame burner as well as the application of a new approach of OH and NO PLIF quantification and thermometry. The simplified kinetic model of ethanol/jet A-1 facilitates further studies, such as CFD modelling. The ethanol addition to the oxidation stability of jet A-1 and the strategy to improve the ethanol stability are reported for the first time.