Refining and blending of aviation turbine fuels

Aviation turbine fuels (jet fuels) are similar to other petroleum products that have a boiling range of approximately 300F to 550F. Kerosene and No.1 grades of fuel oil, diesel fuel, and gas turbine oil share many similar phy sical and chemical properties with jet fuel. The similarity among these pro ducts should allow toxicology data on one material to be extrapolated to th e others. Refineries in the USA manufacture jet fuel to meet industry stand ard specifications. Civilian aircraft primarily use Jet A or Jet A-1 fuel a s defined by ASTM D 1655 Military aircraft use JP-5 or JP-8 fuel as defined by MIL-T-5624R or MIL-T-83133D respectively. The freezing point and flash point are the principle differences between the finished fuels. Common refi nery processes that produce jet fuel include distillation, caustic treatmen t, hydrotreating, and hydrocracking. Each of these refining processes may b e the final step to produce jet fuel. Sometimes blending of two or more of these refinery process streams are needed to produce jet fuel that meets th e desired specifications. Chemical additives allowed for use in jet fuel ar e also defined in the product specifications. In many cases, the customer r ather than the refinery will put additives into the fuel to meet their spec ific storage or flight condition requirements.