A decision by the U.S. military to switch jet aircraft fuel is causing a problem for refiners.
The military is replacing naphtha based JP 4 jet fuel with a less flammable kerosine based JP 8 to improve safety and compatibility with fuel used by commercial jet aircraft.
Here's the problem for U.S. refiners:
When JP 4 production is halted, kerosine from the crude distillation unit is used for jet fuel production, as before. But naphtha that formerly was used to produce JP 4 is sent to the catalytic reformer.
Reformate, an important gasoline blendstock, typically contains 5% benzene and 55% aromatics. Addition of this incremental gasoline to the pool increases benzene and aromatics levels. Gasoline production thus will be constrained by statutory baseline levels of 1.6% benzene and 28.6% aromatics.
Under the Environmental Protection Agency's final rule on reformulated gasoline, refiners that were making JP 4 in 1990 will have to adjust their gasoline baselines so they can run their reformers at fun capacity. Comparatively few refiners, however, will qualify for the JP 4 adjustment, a minimum JP 4 production level of 50% of gasoline volume.
Each plant producing JP 4 will therefore have underutilized reformer capacity, which will reduce the refinery's ultimate viability.
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