Fuel-rich catalytic combustion of Jet-A fuel - equivalence ratios 5. 0 to 8. 0. Technical memo

Fuel-rich catalytic combustion (E. R. > 5.0) is a unique technique for preheating a hydrocarbon fuel to temperatures much higher than those obtained by conventional heat exchangers. In addition to producing very reactive molecules, the process upgrades the structure of the fuel by the formation of hydrogen and smaller hydrocarbons and produces a cleaner-burning fuel by removing some of the fuel carbon from the soot formation chain. Temperatures higher than the 1200 K measured in a previous study with iso-octane can be obtained by altering the air inlet temperature and/or the equivalence ratio (E. R.). The maximum temperature for the processed gases is probably 1350 K which is the threshold temperature for the formation of soot. This paper will describe the successful application of fuel-rich catalytic combustion to Jet-A, multicomponent fuel used in gas-turbine combustors.