IQT®: Powering the Next Era of SAF and Renewable Research

The new IQT-FLEX is a purpose-built research configuration designed as a software upgrade to the standard IQT-XLM system (shown). (Photo: CFR Engines Inc.)

With IQT-FLEX, laboratories can seamlessly switch between standard compliance mode and research mode, eliminating the need to operate separate instruments for certification and scientific discovery.

The global fuel landscape is transforming at record pace. From groundbreaking work in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to the development of renewable diesel, eFuels, hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) and complex synthetic blends, researchers worldwide are being challenged to uncover cleaner, more efficient combustion pathways. The need for precision ignition quality evaluation has never been greater—and neither has the need for flexibility when exploring fuels that operate beyond the limits of established standards.

For decades, the IQT®-Ignition Quality Tester, powered by CFR Engines Inc., has been synonymous with accuracy in derived cetane number (DCN) testing, supporting global compliance under ASTM D6890, EN 15195, and IP 498. Yet as universities, national labs and R&D centers increasingly investigate novel low-reactivity and renewable fuels, the demand has evolved from standardization to scientific exploration. In response, the IQT brand has not only been modernized to meet today’s SAF-focused world, but it has also expanded to unlock the next frontier of combustion research.

Expanding Beyond Standard Cetane Testing

The introduction of the IQT-XLM marked a significant step forward in data acquisition, process control and fuel handling— including the ability to conduct full DCN analysis using just 10 milliliters (mL) of fuel, or partial evaluation with 5 mL. This ultra-low volume requirement has been transformational for SAF projects where production runs are small and precious. The platform has been rapidly adopted across the globe, including leading institutions such as Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Sheffield University and Trinity College Dublin, all of which rely on the IQT for routine DCN evaluation of next generation jet-fuel candidates. 

But with the SAF and synthetic-fuels market accelerating faster than expected—driven by aggressive global initiatives such as the EU’s RefuelEU aviation plan, the U.S. SAF Grand Challenge, the U.K. Jet Zero Strategy, and similar national programs in India, Japan and Canada—researchers need more than just compliance. They need the freedom to push boundaries, simulate real-world engine conditions and deeply examine how alternative fuels behave across temperature, pressure and ignition-delay gradients not covered by certification protocols.

Introducing IQT-FLEX: Unlocking Research Freedom

To fully support the scientific community, the IQT brand has launched the IQT-FLEX—a purpose-built research configuration designed as a software upgrade to the standard IQT-XLM system. With IQT-FLEX, laboratories can seamlessly switch between standard compliance mode and research mode, enabling both regulated DCN testing and advanced combustion experimentation within a single hardware platform. This dual-mode approach provides unmatched cost-efficiency for universities and innovation labs, eliminating the need to operate separate instruments for certification and scientific discovery.

IQT-FLEX dramatically expands operating capabilities and user control, enabling experimental work across:

• Charge air pressure up to 375 pounds per square inch (psi).

• Combustion-chamber temperatures up to 750 degrees Celsius.

• Ignition delays up to 600 milliseconds (ms) for challenging, low-reactivity fuels.

• User-configurable injection profiles (pre-injection, main, timing, duration).

• Nonstandard calibration curves for developmental fuels.

• Full-cycle pressure-trace capture for every combustion event.

Together, these capabilities deliver a research platform engineered specifically for studying fuel formulation, combustion kinetics, low-temperature ignition chemistry and alternative combustion regimes. More importantly, they enable researchers to evaluate how real-world engine parameters affect ignition delay and combustion phasing—insights essential to accelerating new-fuel development. 

IQT supports a future where innovation and certification can progress in parallel rather than sequentially. (Photo: CFR Engines Inc.)

A Platform Built for SAF, Emerging Fuels

SAF qualification requires rigorous evaluation under ASTM D4054, including assessment of lean-blowout risk—a potentially catastrophic failure mode tied to poor ignition quality in turbine engines. The DCN metric generated by IQT testing remains a primary input for understanding lean-stability behavior. As manufacturers, refiners, clearinghouses and governments push to scale SAF production, the value of reliable cetane-based ignition analysis has become unmistakable.

The IQT platform has become central to SAF development because of its:

• High stability and throughput.

• Ability to test multiple chemical families.

• Repeatability across geographically distributed research programs.

• Low fuel-volume requirement—critical during early-stage synthesis.

• Compatibility with certified and experimental pathways, including hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA), Fischer-Tropsch, alcohol-to-jet (ATJ), power-to-liquids (PtL), and future novel molecules.

Beyond aviation, IQT also plays a crucial role in evaluating renewable diesel and gas-to-liquid (GTL) fuels. In Europe, the EN 15195 method on IQT instruments is the referee method for ignition quality under EN 15940—the diesel standard for paraffinic and synthetic fuels. With deployments across North America, South America, the U.K., Europe, South Korea, Singapore, Asia Pacific and the Middle East, IQT has become a shared global platform that harmonizes cetane determination across continents.

This shared platform is mutually beneficial, as shared infrastructure and shared data are foundational to accelerating certification and commercialization. A sample of SAF tested in the U.S. should produce equivalent ignition-analysis results in Japan, Singapore, the U.K. or the EU.

The Future of Collaborative Fuel Research

A sweeping wave of collaboration is now defining synthetic and renewable fuel development. Government-backed sustainability programs, original-equipment manufacturer (OEM) technology roadmaps, university consortia and national laboratories are aligned by common objectives: reduce lifecycle carbon intensity, lower emissions and ensure combustion reliability in existing fleets.

Resources like the RMI SAF Database, International Civil Aviation Organization data sets, and International Air Transport Association sustainability initiatives are giving researchers unprecedented access to global SAF trends—allowing institutions to build on one another’s findings rather than starting from scratch.

The IQT-FLEX is engineered to serve this collaboration. By enabling researchers to work beyond the limits of standard conditions while maintaining trusted IQT precision, it supports a future where innovation and certification can progress in parallel rather than sequentially.

Long-Term Commitment to the Scientific Community

The development of the IQT-FLEX was driven directly by researcher demand. Universities and laboratories planning new IQT-XLM installations requested a research mode with full experimental control. The IQT engineering team responded by designing a future-ready architecture that preserves operator safety and hardware integrity while opening the door to unprecedented customizability.

This mirrors a longstanding principle of the IQT brand: Researchers should never be forced to choose between precision and exploration. With the IQT-FLEX, they can have both.

Looking Forward: Discovery, Data, Decarbonization

The next decade of transportation decarbonization will be defined not by competition but by shared progress. SAF and advanced renewable fuels are essential bridging technologies—allowing aircraft, ground fleets and heavy-duty engines to operate more cleanly while long-term energy infrastructure develops.

Reliable, repeatable, high-resolution combustion data is the foundation of that progress. Whether research is focused on fundamental ignition chemistry, new synthetic pathways, blended-fuel behavior or certification of next-generation SAF candidates, the tools powering this work must deliver precision and flexibility.

The IQT and the new IQT-FLEX together achieve that balance. From standardized global compliance to advanced experimental capability, they equip researchers with everything needed to accelerate the world toward cleaner combustion—one test, one dataset and one breakthrough at a time.

Author: Conrad Kader

Cetane/IQT Product Manager

+44-7765454967

conrad.kader@cfrengines.com