Canada Testing Unleaded Aviation Fuels

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The Canadian government has begun laboratory testing of two unleaded aviation fuels that the FAA is also testing as possible replacements for 100LL. Canada’s National Research Council (NRC) is using its altitude chamber at its Ottawa research complex to put Swift 102 and Shell’s candidate fuel through its paces. Pervez Canteenwalla, the researcher heading up the project, said the NRC has already finished benchmark testing of 100LL in the chamber and preliminary comparative testing of one of the other fuels (he wouldn’t say which). Swift and Shell were chosen as finalists in the FAA’s Piston Aviation Fuels Initiative to assess their potential as a drop-in replacement for 100LL. The Canadian research is independent from the FAA’s program and Canteenwalla said the issue is important to Canadian aviation since piston aircraft make up a large segment of the country’s personal and commercial aircraft fleet and are particularly important to serve far-flung northern communities. Although the NRC and the FAA are testing the same things, Canteenwalla said the use of the altitude chamber in Ottawa gives the NRC some advantages.

Canteenwalla said the altitude chamber is able to duplicate all of the conditions to which an engine and its fuel will be exposed in the controlled environment of the lab. The air pressure can be adjusted to duplicate altitudes from sea level to beyond the 30,000-foot ceiling of most piston engines. Temperature can be set anywhere between -40 to +40 degrees Celsius and humidity can also be adjusted. That ensures the entire system is subject to conditions that will be encountered during normal operations, said Canteenwalla. FAA testing is limited to varying the density of the combustion air fed to the engine. The NRC tests are being done on a Continental TSIO 520 engine, which is turbocharged but doesn’t have an intercooler. That means it normally operates near its upper temperature limits so it represents the extreme performance required of fuels in nasty environments. In real life, the engine is used mostly on Cessna 402C aircraft that toil as light freight haulers and commuter aircraft. Canteenwalla said results from the preliminary tests will be released by the end of the year and the full test program will be completed by next summer.

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