An investigation of the effectiveness of smoke suppressant fuel additives for turbojet applications

Abstract

Seven fuel additives were tested to investigate their effectiveness at reducing exhaust stack gas opacity in a turbojet test cell. Exhaust particle sizes and mass concentrations were determined at the engine and stack exhausts using measurements of light transmittance at three frequencies. Particle samples were also collected at the engine exhaust and measured with a scanning electron microscope to verify the optical technique. Nitrous oxide emissions were measured at the test cell stack exhaust. Four of the additives tested were found effective at reducing stack exhaust opacity and particulate mass concentration. None of the additives had any measurable effect on particle diameters. No meaningful changes in particle size or mass occurred between the engine and stack exhausts. The optical technique for determining particle size was verified effective using the scanning electron microscope. No additive had any significant effect on nitrous oxide production.