Have you ever stopped to think about what exactly is 'jet fuel'? Or maybe you have dreamed of running your old car off of jet fuel and turning it into a new rocket car! Well, jet fuel and gasoline are similar, but you can't run just any car off of jet fuel.Before I get into differences, let me share some information on the jet or aviation fuel.Aviation fuels are one of the basic products used by an aircraft. They are heavily regulated by national and international bodies. For example, in United States organization called ASTM International regulates general standards for commercial airplanes while U.S. Department of Defense for military planes. There are two main types of jet fuel: Jet A and Jet B.
Region Name # Country Name: Airport Code: Airport Name: Fuel price Jet A1 (usd/usg) Africa: TANZANIA: DAR: Dar Es Salaam: Africa: TANZANIA: JRO: Kilimanjaro: Africa: TOGO.
They differ in quality or better yet, freezing point. Jet B is usually used for military operations and areas with bad weather. Jet and gasoline both consist of long strings of hydrocarbons derived from the refinement of oil. Where the fuels differ is just what hydrocarbons each of the types contain. Gasoline consists of hydrocarbons that contain anywhere from 7 to 11 carbon atoms with hydrogen molecules attached. Jet fuel, on the other hand, contains hydrocarbons more in the range of 12 to 15 carbon atoms. In more colloquial terminology, jet fuel is made up mostly of kerosene.Theoretically speaking, jets and cars could run off of the same fuel, but the environments that airplanes travel through tend to be very different than normal driving conditions.
Temperatures in flight for airplanes can drop to under -40˚ C. At this low temperature, normal gasoline would likely freeze, ultimately causing proper combustion to stop. For this main reason, kerosene is good for jet fuel because it has a lower freezing point. Kerosene also has a higher flash point, which makes it much safer in preventing unplanned combustion.
Given the lower freezing point of jet fuel and the higher flash point, the fuel has a much wider safe operational temperature range.