UDRI's Dr. Zachary West holds a sample of jet fuel diluted in solvent ready for analysis to look for trace contamination. (U.S. Air Force photo/John Harrington)
Keeping Fuel Safer and More Stable
UDRI Fuel Science experts conduct experimental and computational research in jet fuel thermal stability, jet fuel cold-flow improvement, fuel additives, fuel autoxidation, chemical kinetics and computational fluid dynamics of fuel oxidation and deposition, molecular modeling of alkane/fuel crystallization, aircraft fuel system operation at low temperature, fuel chemical analysis, chemical analysis of additives, fuel solid-liquid equilibria, fuel instrumental analysis, and biological contamination of fuel.
Capabilities
- Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) systems for measuring fuel deposition, oxidation, and the effect of additives
- Various gas chromatographic systems with atomic emission, mass spectrometric, and flame ionization detection
- High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with uv-vis absorption, electrochemical, and refractive index detection
- Scanning Brookfield viscometry
- Low temperature optical microscopy
- Differential scanning calorimetry
- Solid-phase extraction techniques for preseparation of fuel components
- Computational molecular modeling and molecular dynamics
- Development of pseudo-detailed chemical kinetic models
- Various thermal oxidation and pyrolysis fuel heat exchangers
- Total carbon analysis
- Direct PCR analysis of biological contaminant organisms