"100SF" Fuel Under Development Possible "Drop-In" Replacement
For 100LL
A large step has been taken toward bringing an unleaded
aviation gasoline to the general aviation industry. Swift
Enterprises, based in the Purdue Research Park, has been developing
an unleaded replacement for aviation gasoline for the last five
years, which Swift Enterprises officials call 100SF. One of
the milestones in the path to commercialization of their product is
the publication of a specification by ASTM International that
defines their fuel.
Earlier in May, ASTM International approved a new fuel
specification, ASTM D7719 Standard Specification for High Octane
Unleaded Test Fuel, for Grade UL102 unleaded aviation gasoline;
100SF meets the performance parameters for Grade UL102. In order to
ensure the continued safe operation of every aircraft/engine in the
fleet, this specification is modeled after ASTM D910, the current
specification for 100LL.
Swift officials began development of an unleaded, high-octane
replacement for 100LL (100-octane low lead) aviation gasoline
because of rumors of the coming demise of the leaded gasoline. In
recent months, the issue of leaded fuels being used in general
aviation has come to the forefront. This has further opened the
industry to searching for a viable replacement for 100LL, such as
UL102. In the beginning of 2011, the FAA Administrator formed an
Unleaded Avgas Transition Aviation Rulemaking Committee to focus on
the current issues relating to the transition to an unleaded
avgas.
"The approval of this standard is a major part of the process
for getting this fuel to market," said PJ Catania, the head of
fuels certification and member of ASTM International for Swift
Enterprises.
ASTM D7719 does not yet allow for UL102 to be sold at airports
commercially but does allow Swift to test UL102 in non-Experimental
aircraft, thereby eliminating significant time and expenses from
each industry testing program. Another major advantage of a test
fuel specification such as D7719 is that it ensures that test fuel
delivered by Swift to individual test agencies meets the same
performance parameters every time, thereby guaranteeing consistency
in the tests and fuel quality. With the test fuel
specification now accomplished, Swift will now focus on working
with industry partners to gather additional data to transform D7719
into a commercial specification.
"Added to what Swift has already accomplished via industry
testing and collaboration, we believe that this achievement proves
that the ASTM process works and can be completed with the proper
technical diligence and industry collaboration," said Mary Rusek,
president of Swift Enterprises.