Report
Project 039: Naphthalene Removal Assessment
Washington State University
2021
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000001750
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/120823
Appears in Aviation Sustainability Center (ASCENT)
Abstract
The composition of aviation fuels affects the formation of pollutants that contribute to climate change and reduced air quality that leads to adverse health impacts including increased risk of premature mortality. The objective of this project was to assess the societal costs and benefits of removing naphthalenes from jet fuel produced in the United States. Removal of naphthalene by extractive distillation is found to be less expensive than the use of hydrotreatment. Hydrotreatment has the additional effect of removing sulfur from the fuel, while fuel processed by extractive distillation has larger reductions in nvPM emissions. The largest environmental benefits come from reductions in air quality damages due to sulfur emissions, although the removal of sulfur also results in a net warming effect on the climate. Climate benefits due to reductions in nvPM emissions are mainly associated with reductions in contrail radiative forcing. However, this benefit is more than offset by the increased CO2 emissions required for the naphthalene removal processes. These results suggest that naphthalene removal on a nationwide basis is unlikely to be cost beneficial using either extractive distillation or hydrotreatment. However, naphthalene removal could be beneficial under certain circumstances, for example, if applied to fuels used at individual airports with particular air quality concerns, or if used at times and locations where the formation of warming contrails is most likely.
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Details
- Title
- Project 039: Naphthalene Removal Assessment
- Creators
- Steven Barrett (Author) - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyR Speth (Author) - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Academic Unit
- Aviation Sustainability Center (ASCENT); Emissions
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Grants
- 13-C-AJFE-MIT, Federal Aviation Administration (United States, Washington) - FAA
- Identifiers
- 99900623175901842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Report