Contamination of Cabin Air by Synthetic Oil and Breakdown Products

In connection with the development of catalytic converter to eliminate traces of oil from turbine engine and APU bleed air, some experiments were conducted to better understand the compounds present in the cabin air as well as possible compounds originating from the turbine oil. Samples of cabin air were taken from an aircraft in flight and analyzed by means of gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy. The compounds as determined by this method, were then compared with the compounds found in air which had been passed over synthetic oil (Mil L 23699 type) heated to various elevated temperatures. This paper describes the experiments and presents the data obtained.