National Test Facility for Fuels and Propulsion
National Test Facility for Fuels and Propulsion
The National Test Facility for Fuels and Propulsion (NaTeF) was funded through a $2.7 million cooperative agreement with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. ?The NaTeF facilities are located in the Niswonger Aviation Technology Building at the Purdue Airport, and include aircraft engine test cells and a Materials Testing Laboratory. The engine test cells are equipped to conduct exhaust emissions, collect engine operational data, and evaluate engine performance; the interaction and compatibility of new fuels with aircraft materials and components may be studied and evaluated in the Materials Testing Laboratory. The testing capabilities of these laboratories are currently focused on testing and development of new aviation fuels for both turbine (jet) engines and piston engine applications but may also be utilized in the future for testing of engine and aircraft hardware. NaTeF is the primary testing arm of the Air Transport Institute for Environmental Sustainability (AirTIES) Research Center at Purdue University, the overall mission of which is to support the development, testing, and implementation of new aviation fuels. AirTIES researchers are collaborating with faculty in other disciplines at Purdue and with industrial partners to advance the state of new, sustainable aviation fuels in projects that include identifying and optimizing candidate crops for bio-fuels, new processes to produce bio-fuels, economic and carbon footprint assessments of new fuels, and fit-for-performance testing of fuels in the NaTeF laboratories and test cells.
- Category: Technology
- Location: Niswonger
- Recharge: Yes
- Accessible to non-Purdue users: Yes
- Contact: David Stanley