Experimental investigation of surrogates for jet and diesel fuels

The low and intermediate temperature reactivities of 2:1:1 n-decane:n-butylcyclohexane:n-butylbenzene and 1:1:1 n-decane:n-butylcyclohexane:n-butylbenzene were examined as possible surrogates for jet and diesel fuel, respectively. The hydrocarbons and the proportions were chosen as they match the average composition of the real fuels. The candidate surrogates and the real fuels were oxidized in a pressurized flow reactor at temperatures of 600–800 K, pressure of 0.8 MPa, and equivalence ratio of 0.30. The three-component mixtures were significantly more reactive than the real fuels. The difficulties of tuning both properties and behavior of the surrogates to the real fuels are discussed. Surrogate fuels that maintain the molecular weight of the real fuels but with reduced reactivity may require the addition of a heavy iso-paraffin.