JP54 is an abbreviation for “Jet Propulsion, A1, Colonial Grade 54″ During the refining process only 15% of the crude oil is made up of JP54 the rest of the grade is used for different types of plastic.

Developed by JP Morgan, Colonial grade JP54 was replaced by AVGAS also known as AVGAS100LL, it’s the number one low sulphur content kerosene used worldwide. It’s gasoline!

JP54 powers gas turbine aircraft engines. Jet A and A-1 have specifications that can be used in fuel worldwide. Jet B is used in cold weather elements. Commonly a number of different mixtures make up jet fuel and this relates to flash points and how the carbon numbers are distributed.

Actually most jet fuel exported from Russia etc. is “JP54” or “Colonial JP54”. It is similar to “Jet A” except the the Specific Energy is 18.4 mj/kg compared to that of 42.8 mj/kg of “Jet A”.

Also there is a slight difference in additives. The jet fuels come in a number of flavors. There is a 100+ page handbook needed to specify them all. However, all the jet fuels relate to additives to A1, which allows the plane not to leave a white tail in the sky showing where a plane has been.

Jet fuel is kerosene, and not a distillate like Gasoil/ Diesel. In the refinery, it separates above gasolines and parafins.

So, no airline will ever purchase “JP54”, there is no trading desk that will trade JP54 and you will find no oil company that sells “JP54”. They will sell Aviation fuel A1 enhanced to a variety of specifications, most usual, the Colonial Grade 54. There is no ticker on the commodity exchanges for “JP54” to allow you to see the market value of the product.

There is no special temperature considerations to consider. Remember that at 40,000 feet it is -46 Centigrade more or less regardless of where you are and the season. The only problem related to temperature is when you fill in a wet, hot climate, the air you take along in the same tanks contains a lot of water that condenses and forms spiking ice crystals that will destroy the jet turbine. The airlines will fix this with additives, usually fatty acids.

Military grade jet fuel is produced by the refineries and delivered directly since they will require special additives.

Aviation Jet Fuel 54 SPECIFICATION

　

	PROPERTIES	UNIT	RESULT	TEST-IP	METHOD	ASTM
1	Antioxidant in hydro processed fuel	mg / l	Min/Max	17-24
2	Antioxidant non hydro processed fuel	mg / l	Max	24
3	Static dissipater first doping ASA-3	mg / l	Max	1
4	Stadis 450	mg / l	Max	3
5	specific energy	net mj / kg	Min	18.4		D4808
6	Smoke point	mm	Min	19		D1322
7	Luminomitter number min 45 D7140     Naphtalenes	% vol	Max	3		D1840
8	Total Acidity	mg	Max	0.01	354	D3242
9	Aromatices	% vol	Max	22.0	158	D1318
10	Silphir, Total	% mass	Max	0.30	107	D1266/2622
11	Sulphur, Mercaptan	% mass	Max	0.003	342	D3227
12	Doctor, test				30	D4952
13	Initial Boiling Point	Centigrade	Max		Report 123	D96
14	10% vol at C				240
15	20% vol at C				Report
16	50% vol at C				Report
17	80 % vol at C				Report
18	End point	Centigrade	Max		300
19	Recovered ridicules	% vol	Max		1.5
20	Loss	% vol	Max		1.5
21	Flesh Point	Centigrade	MAx		42 170/303	D56/3828
22	Density at 15 C	Kg / ㎡	Min/Max	776/840	180/385	D1298
23	Freezing Point	Centigrade	Max	-40	15	D2256