How jet fuel is made

Jet fuel is kerosene, held to an international specification so tight that it must stay liquid at altitude.

stations: 6
things upstream: 4
raw sources: 3
steps from the ground: 2

The short version

Jet fuel is made from the kerosene cut of crude oil. The cut is drawn from the middle of a distillation tower, treated with hydrogen to remove sulfur and other contaminants, and filtered. Additives are blended in, and each batch is tested against a standard that sets its freezing point and smoke point.

Heat and boil the crude

Desalted crude oil is heated and fed into the atmospheric distillation tower. The kerosene cut condenses on a tray above the diesel and below the naphtha.

Goes in
Crude oil
Treat it with hydrogen

The kerosene is reacted with hydrogen over a catalyst to remove sulfur and other contaminants. Some refineries use a milder chemical wash instead.

Goes in
Hydrogen
Filter out water and grit

Clay filters and water separators strip out the last traces of water, dirt and polar compounds. Water would freeze into ice crystals at cruising altitude.
Blend in the additives

Additives are dosed into the fuel to prevent static buildup, corrosion and oxidation.
Test every batch

Samples are tested for freezing point, smoke point, flash point and more against the specification. A batch that fails is blended or reprocessed.
Pipe it to the airport

Pipelines, trains and tanker trucks carry the fuel to airport depots. It is filtered again before it goes into the aircraft.

End of the lineJet fuel Next it goes into airliner, jet engine.

Worth repeating

The main difference between Jet A and Jet A-1, the two fuels most airlines use, is that Jet A-1 has the lower freezing point.
Kerosene-type jet fuel molecules have about 8 to 16 carbon atoms, while wide-cut fuel such as Jet B has about 5 to 15.