Water in the Tank
High standards make airplanes the statistically safest way to travel. This security is purchased comes at the expense of long development and introduction phases, which appear to leave little room for innovation. However, one supplier of aviation fuel filtration systems has carried out trail-blazing development work.
In the refinery, aviation fuels are present as highly refined products. However, contamination can creep in along the transportation chain up to the airplane fuel tanks. Among the potential contaminants, dust, rust and sand can be filtered out relatively easily. Water, on the other hand, which is the greatest threat to quality and safety, cannot be. Among the molecular properties of the hydrocarbons in fuel is the unwanted propensity to bind to water molecules. When temperatures drop, water molecules are released as free water and form ice, which then has to be expensively removed at regular maintenance intervals.
In 2018, representatives from a major German airline and an important German chemical company came knocking at the door of Marcus Wildschütz and Matthias Aden, the two CEOs of FAUDI Aviation GmbH in Germany. They were asked to develop an in-service evaluation of a new fuel additive, which was supposed to make the water problem vanish.
