Sensory Irritant Potential of Amyris C15 Bio-Based Jet Fuel

JP-8, a petroleum-based jet fuel, is currently the primary fuel used in U.S. Air Force aircraft. Because the United States Government is interested in lowering dependence on crude oil for military use, alternative fuels have been developed that would be either combined with or used in place of JP-8 for military operations. This study investigated the sensory irritation potential from inhalation of Amyris C15 aerosols and vapors. Amyris C15 Amyris is an alternative fuel that is produced by a direct sugar to hydrocarbon process and consists primarily of the alkane farnesane. Sensory irritation is the most common harmful effect of inhaled airborne chemicals, and irritancy can be quantitatively measured in mice by reflex inhibition of respiratory rate. The concentration of a chemical that induces a 50 respiratory depression is termed the RD50 value and describes the sensory irritancy potential of that chemical. The testing method that was used followed the American Society for Testing and Materials guideline Standard Test Method for Estimating Sensory Irritancy of Airborne Chemicals. Separate cohorts of Swiss-Webster mice were exposed nose-only to five concentrations of an Amyris aerosolvapor mixture for 30 minutes. Respiratory rates were measured with a body plethysmograph during the exposure and 10 minutes post-exposure and compared to a pre-exposure baseline. Exposure to Amyris did not induce a respiratory rate depression of at least 50 at any of the concentrations tested. It was concluded that Amyris was not a sensory irritant at similar concentrations to which JP-8 was found to induce sensory irritation in the current study, as well as in previous literature.