The sooting tendency of aviation biofuels and jet range paraffins: effects of adding aromatics, carbon chain length of normal paraffins, and fraction of branched paraffins

The smoke point of several fuel mixtures was measured using a smoke meter defined by American Society for Testing Material D1322. The threshold soot index (TSI) was calculated to compare the sooting tendency of fuels. Two aviation biofuels produced by hydroprocessing of coconut oil, four jet range normal paraffins (n-paraffins), iso-octane, and propylbenzene were used to investigate the effects of chain length of n-paraffins, iso-paraffins, and aromatics on the sooting tendency. The results show that the effect of propylbenzene on the smoke point of the mixtures is dominant compared to that of the chain length of n-paraffins and the fraction of iso-paraffins. The differences in the sooting tendency among these n-paraffins are insignificant. In addition, blending aviation biofuels with Jet A1 leads to a decrease in the sooting tendency. Aromatics in Jet A1 play an important role on the sooting tendency of the mixtures of aviation biofuels and Jet A1.