Is jet fuel just diseal, or is it something else?

Answer 1

it's not diesel...

it's highly refined gas (oil) with a very high octane level.

(very quick summary)

Answer 2

There are many different types of fuels for airplanes (generally aviation gas or avgas) there are about 20 different ones some are leaded some are unleaded some have octane ratings up to 130 some are lower like 85 octane. It is definitely not diesel or kerosene. Aviation gas actually has less government restrictions on it than gas for road cars so it has fewer additives and is a little bit less refined. If you put avgas into your car it will probably poision the catalytic converters and your car won't pass emissions. Most jets run on Jet A or Jet B. Kerosene, unleaded gas, naptha (lighter fluid) diesel, jet A etc are similar in that they are all petroleum based based but that is where the similarities end. Comparing 89 octance unleaded car gas to diesel and to lighter fluid etc is like comparing beer to coca cola to orange juice, they all have water as the main ingredient but they taste different, do different things and can't really be interchanged.

Answer 3

There are some good answers here already, its closer to diesel than it is to "gas" or petrol as I'd call it.

As far as I'm aware it's still lighter than diesel because in the end it will be ignited by a flame rather than compression alone as in a diesel. However Petrol would take to a match faster than kerosene, which in turn burns hotter once it has taken.

Ignore answers comparing kerosene to spark-plug engine fuels ie "gas" if you want just look on wiki there's a bundle of information there.

Answer 4

Jet fuel is basically kerosene, with some additives.

Non-jet aircraft use 100 Octane Low Lead, which is closer to auo gas, but still contains a lot of additives as well, and is therefore more expensive.

Answer 5

Jet fuel is a highly refined hydrocarbon similar to diesel. It is closer to kerosene, which is also highly refined diesel. There is less oil in jet fuel to burn cleaner. It also has additives to keep bacteria from growing in it.
Having said that, most turbine engines will burn just about anything that will burn and can be pumped through a tube.
Before the additives was an additive called Prist, to kill bacteria and dissipate moisture in the fuel to keep it from freezing the fuel lines.
P & W in times past advised adding a little 100LL gasoline in cold weather, and it also killed bactreria, because bacteria won't grow in avgas.

Answer 6

"Jet Fuel" Jet A, JP-8, what ever you call it, it is very close to Kerosene and Diesel fuel. It is usually less refined than road fuels and has less additives.
Most Diesel engines can run on Jet A, the Air Force and most Airlines use waste Jet Fuel to run their ground support equipment, such as generators, heaters and tow vehicles.
Jet Engines can run on AVGas if oil is added to lubricate the fuel pumps and fuel controls. This would only be used in emergency situations.

Answer 7

Jet fuel is a highly refined form of kerosene and it does not have an octane rating. Jet A is Jet A

Answer 8

Jet fuel and Diesel fuel are very similar. The most common fuel is an unleaded/paraffin oil-based fuel classified as JET A-1. It will run any diesel engine that will run on pump oils. sometimes they put spirits in the oil when it gets cold.

Answer 9

#1 Kerosene.

Answer 10

Its related to kerosene or is a highly refined kerosene, if it was gas it would explode in a jet engine

Answer 11

In its basic form Yes, is diesel. But has other things in it to make it run better for jet engines. Heard them say modified. Basically like super high octane for race engines(Diesels that is). Whats cool is you can run it through regular diesel engines too. But not all the time. Too dry for the valves, so I've been told.