During the last centuries, aviation has become one of the most developed inventions. Aviation had also become one of the most important forms of transportation. Without aviation, we would not be able to travel around the world for a short time. We would still rely on ships to travel, which is time consuming and inefficient. However, the development of the aeronautical industries also leads to the development of a new type of fuel. This new type of fuel was mainly focused on air transport, and it is another vital element for all airplanes. All aircraft use a type of fuel known as jet fuel or aviation fuel. Without aircraft-grade fuel, the planes would have no source of fuel to drive the powerful jet turbine engine that would generate lift and other electrical power for the aircraft.
As aircraft engines become more complicated, they will require more sophisticated types of fuel to drive the engines more efficiently. Common gasoline was not ideal for airplanes. In the early days of aviation, most planes had a small, simple engine that powered automobiles. However, plain gasoline was not the best fuel for the powerful engines used by piston aircraft that were developed in the 1930s and 1940s. Plain gasoline was not as efficient and did not have a high octane rating. All types of fuel have a reference rating. The benchmark was its octane level. The higher the octane number will allow a powerful piston engine to burn its fuel efficiently. During the jet age, the newly invented jet engine does not require a type of fuel that vaporizes as easily as before. Instead of using old gasoline, they resort to a mixture of kerosene and gasoline. This first type of jet fuel was known as JP-1. Later, there was a newly developed JP-8, they used this type of fuel because it had a higher burn rate and was less carcinogenic. All jet fuels only have the requirement that all types of aviation fuels do not ignite at low temperature, in order to avoid fire accidents.
In the commercial jet businesses, they use jet fuel. Grade a jet fuel is pure kerosene and has a flash point of 49 degrees Celsius. Jet a fuel is a high quality fuel. If the jet fails purity and other quality tests for use in jet aircraft, it is sold to users on the ground who have less stringent requirements. Commercial jet fuel, as well as military jet fuel, often includes antifreeze to prevent ice buildup inside fuel tanks. Ice buildup in fuel tanks is one of the last things a pilot would want during their flight. In today’s market, jet fuel costs about 0.95 cents per gallon. Jet fuel is cheaper than gasoline since it is pure kerosene and commercial airlines buy it in bulk, which makes the price cheaper. Before jet fuel can become usable, kerosene must be extracted from crude oil and purified so that it burns cleanly in jet engines. Once the extraction is complete, the chemist must determine the mixture of kerosene and gasoline to make the fuel as efficient as possible and prevent the engine from needlessly misfiring.
In conclusion, the introduction of jet fuel changed the face of the aviation industry. Without aviation grade, airline fuel rates would cost more because they would have to use gasoline to run the engines. Jet fuel uses are also more efficient for airplanes, since they were designed for the job.