Review on the Relationship Between Liquid Aerospace Fuel Composition and Their Physicochemical Properties

The development of advanced air transportation has raised new demands for high-performance liquid hydrocarbon fuels. However, the measurement of fuel properties is time-consuming, cost-intensive, and limited to the operating conditions. The physicochemical properties of aerospace fuels are directly influenced by chemical composition. Thus, a thorough investigation should be conducted on the inherent relationship between fuel properties and composition for the design and synthesis of high-grade fuels and the prediction of fuel properties in the future. This work summarized the effects of fuel composition and hydrocarbon molecular structure on the fuel physicochemical properties, including density, net heat of combustion (NHOC), low-temperature fluidity (viscosity and freezing point), flash point, and thermal-oxidative stability. Several correlations and predictions of fuel properties from chemical composition were reviewed. Additionally, we correlated the fuel properties with hydrogen/carbon molar ratios (nH/C) and molecular weight (M). The results from the least-square method implicate that the coupling of H/C molar ratio and M is suitable for the estimation of density, NHOC, viscosity and effectiveness for the design, manufacture, and evaluation of aviation hydrocarbon fuels.