High-Efficiency Filter System for Removal of Copper Contamination from Jet Fuels

Copper contamination in JP-5 fuel derives from the use of Cu-Ni pipes for fuel storage and delivery. The presence of dissolved copper in hydrocarbon fuels impacts jet engine performance due to its catalytic effect on fuel decomposition, leading to coking or impaired performance capability. Currently no solutions are available to directly mitigate the effect of copper and replacement of the piping in the delivery system is prohibitively expensive. Contamination levels as high as 1000 ppb were found.Precision Combustion, Inc. (PCI) proposes to scale-up and demonstrate a replaceable filter module that integrates two technologies: (1) a nanostructured sorbent chemically tuned to selectively attract and strongly retain dissolved copper ions without affecting fuel additives or the fuel itself supported onto (2) a short contact time, low pressure drop and high mass transfer rate substrate that enables high throughput while achieving close to 99% copper removal, by increasing sorbent utilization and diffusion rates of contaminant into the sorbent. This offers a viable path to removing copper and improving the fuel thermal oxidation stability of JP-5 fuel.