RESTRICTIVE SPECIFICATIONS WILL INCREASE JET FUEL COSTS

Upon reviewing the paper, “Restrictive Specifications Will Increase Jet Fuel Costs,” it should be borne in mind that the material was prepared from data on a given crude with the principal objective of showing a generalized picture of how various fuel properties influence fuel availability. Consequently, too much weight should not be placed upon the absolute values shown. Furthermore, in conducting the analysis, the U.S. tax limits on gasolines were considered as limiting factors. Petroleum stocks having 10% distillation temperatures over 347ºF. and 95% distillation temperatures over 464ºF. are not subject to the Federal gasoline tax. If it were assumed permissible to deviate from either the 10% distillation limit of 347ºF. minimum or the 95% distillation limit of 464ºF. minimum, there would be noticeable differences in product availability as compared to those shown. While we showed little, if any, effect of SO₂ treatment on the freeze point, actual refining practice with Mideast crudes has shown a drop in freeze point in the order of 5ºF. with SO₂ treatment.

We should like to re-emphasize that the principal objective of the paper was to illustrate the general relationships between specification limits for jet fuels and over-all availability.