Characterization of liquid aviation fuel combustor for condensation trail research

Contrails are becoming an increasing concern for net radiative forcing within the atmosphere as use of alternative fuels to reduce CO2 emissions is explored. This has created a need to study the ice nucleation and radiation scattering of contrails within a laboratory environment. This thesis explores the development of laboratory methods through the development of a contrail-producing environmental chamber and the development of a laboratory-scale liquid aviation fuel combustor to allow for the production of soot that mimics aviation-derived soot from various alternative fuels. It was found that laboratory-scale combustion can be stabilized using varying fuel and air injection flow rates and temperatures traveling through various internal mixing bodies. Flame oscillatory stability was achieved for Jet-A fuel through limiting evaporation temperatures to below 443 K with air temperatures are between 413 and 453 K. Superior mixing and efficiency was achieved using swirling inner bodies. Jet-A soot had primary particle diameters between 19 and 21 nm for equivalence ratios of 1.4 and 2.0. No consistent trends were observed for soot mass production per minute. Only consistent pattern observed for elemental-to-total-carbon ratio was the straight body always producing higher ratios than the uni-flow body for all fuels in rich conditions. It was concluded that significant error resulted from constant soot collection height relative to the combustor and from changes in the mixing parameters caused by reduction of the injected air to modulate the equivalence ratio. Further studies that address these issues are required before conclusions can be drawn about the effectiveness of the laboratory-scale combustor’s ability to mimic aviation soot in a consistent and controllable manner.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Mechanical Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Malley, Connor Scott

Contributors dc:contributor

• Lee, Tonghun

• contrail
• condensation trail
• SAF
• sustainable aviation fuel
• combustor
• burner
• fuel
• aviation

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2025 Connor Malley

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132552

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132552