Spectroscopic study of aviation jet fuel thermal oxidative stability

Aviation fuel is used as a coolant to remove waste heat loads from an aircraft in addition to its conventional role as an energy source through combustion. As the fuel temperature increases, several reactions involving hydrocarbon molecules, dissolved oxygen, and impurities take place, which ultimately lead to the formation of gums and solid deposits. Ultraviolet-visible light absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy were used to study the degradation of commercial Jet A-1 as it was thermally stressed. Both techniques were shown to be highly sensitive to the chemical reactions occurring in the thermally stressed fuel that led to the formation of oxygenate products.