Experimental and Molecular Simulations for Evaluating the Effect of Lubricity Improvers on the Property of Jet Fuel

Since the 1990s, the kerosene fuel (code: JP-8) had been applied in the ground equipment provided with direct injection compression ignition engines in the U.S. Army, resulting in increased occurrence of injection pump failures.Anti-wear additives must be used in the single fuel due to its poor lubricity. In the present work, lubricity improvers were selected on the basis of molecular simulation theoretically and these agents were evaluated to improve the lubricity of jet fuel using the high frequency reciprocating rig (HFRR) apparatus and the ball-on-cylinder lubricity evaluator (BOCLE).It was revealed that dimer acid with higher value of adsorption energy on the Fe (110) plane surface had more efficient lubricity promoting properties than that of naphthenic acid. The experimental results suggested that the dimer acid had a better tribological behavior compared with that of naphthenic acid used as lubricity improver of jet fuel. And addition of anti-wear additives at a dosage of 15 μg/g was able to promote the lubricity of jet fuel to a required level on BOCLE, while a higher concentration over 80 μg/g was needed to improve the lubricity to a demanded value of diesel on HFRR.