North Haven, CT (August 2nd, 2018) 
- Precision Combustion, Inc. (PCI) has won a Department of Defense Navy Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to develop its new filter technology for liminating copper contaminant from Navy aircraft JP-5 fuel.
Maintenance costs from copper contamination are projected at $1 billion annually for the Navy’s fleet and Joint Strike Fighter programs which has generated strong interest for resolving this issue. Current fuel piping on aircraft carriers and in supply ships contains copper nickel alloys, which is primarily responsible for the issue, resulting in additional aircraft maintenance and decreased performance.
PCI’s solution is based on a new filter containing novel sorbents that will remove the metal contaminants while preserving fuel and additive properties. End costs will be low due to targeted high capacity, simple operation and cartridge-replacement ease of renewal.
The Principal Investigator of the project, Dr. Codruta Loebick, states, “Our approach offers to bypass issues stemming from the presence of copper in JP-5 fuel, which creates engine maintenance and repair issues associated with the auto-oxidative degradation of jet fuel, such as coking. We have good technology for this, and a good team working on it.”
PCI expects to develop the low cost copper mitigation solution to install on aircraft carriers’ existing JP-5 shipboard fueling systems with the capacity to process fuel at a rate of several hundred gallons per minute. There is furthermore the potential to reduce aircraft maintenance costs by hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
PCI’s President Kevin Burns adds, “This is an important issue, and we’re glad to have won this project. We’re happy working with our Navy customer and our partners, and this chance to help our Armed Forces. We’re also working on developing spin-off applications for other fueling systems.”
Precision Combustion, Inc. is a clean energy technology innovator directed to energy sector applications. To learn more, visit www.Precision-Combustion.com
For more information, please contact:
Director, Marketing and Business Development
203-287-3700 ext. 290