Insight of effects of air quality and sustainable aviation fuel blend on energy saving and emission reduction in airport

Abstract

AbstractAir quality in airport attracts a widespread attention due to the emission of GHGs and pollutants related with aircraft flight. Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) has confirmed PM2.5 reduction due to free of aromatics and sulphur, and thus air quality improvement in airport is prospected by SAF blend. Two types of SAF were assessed the potential of energy saving and emission reduction by ZF850 jet engine. FT fuel is characterized with only paraffins without aromatics and cycloparaffins while HCHJ fuels is characterized with no aromatics. The descend of air quality and SAF blend were both investigated the effect on the engine performance and emission characteristic. The critical parameters were extracted from fuel compositions and air pollutants. Ambient air with a higher PM2.5 could lead to the rise of engine emission especially in UHC and PM2.5 despite at the low thrust setting and high thrust setting, and even couple with 3.2% rise in energy consumption and 1% reduction in combustion efficiency. CO, NO and NO2 in ambient air show less influence on engine performance and emission characteristic than PM2.5. Both types of SAF blend were observed significant reductions in PM2.5 and UHC. PM2.5 reduction obtained 37.9%—99.8% by FT blend and 0.64%-93.9% by HCHJ blend through the whole trust settings. There are almost 6.67% positive benefit in TSFC through the whole thrust setting by 7% FT blend. The effects of air quality and SAF blend on engine emission present significant changes on PM and UHC but the slight change on CO and NOx. By SAF blend, the energy saving and pollutant reduction obtained could be both benefit for air quality improvement in airport and further reduce engine emission as the feedback of less pollutants in ambient air. Graphical Abstract