Autoxidation of potential hydrogen donors for the stabilization of advanced jet fuels

Hydrogen donors have aided in the stabilization of jet fuel in the pyrolytic regime by terminating radical chain reactions during fuel degradation. Traditional hydrogen donors, such as tetralol and tetralin, suffer poor oxidative stability in the autoxidative regime, which can enhance pyrolytic decomposition of the fuel. Traditional antioxidants, such as hindered phenols, can improve a fuel's autoxidative stability, but will significantly decrease the pyrolytic stability of the fuel. An approach to solve this dilemma is to utilize oxidation-resistant hydrogen donors such as tetralone and a binary donor of tetralone and tetralin (or indane). The binary donors of indane with tetralone significantly increase fuel stability through both the autoxidative and pyrolytic regimes. This study is aimed at targeting why such binary donors can improve the fuel's stability and the effect of autoxidation on the hydrogen donors. The tetralone prevented ring-opening reactions and dimerization of both tetralin and indane under autoxidative conditions. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 228th ACS National Meeting (Philadelphia, PA 8/22-26/2004).