Incineration Process of Double Base Propellant for Demilitarization

The thermal decomposition of waste energetic materials such as TNT, RDX and composition B in a commercial rotary kiln has previously been carried out. As part of the demilitarization process, the thermal decomposition of homogeneous double base propellant (DB) used in M8 and consisting predominantly of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine is examined with respect to a number of operating conditions. A single condensed phase reaction with 4 species and 365 gas phase reactions and 59 species are considered. Simulation results show the sensitivity of the thermal decomposition of DB with temperature and velocity. At relatively low velocity with constant inlet hot air temperature, temperature in the rotary kiln was found to be highest, 953 K and 1300 K for cases 3 and 6 respectively. Illustrating that optimum operating temperature can be achieved by controlling the inlet velocity without additional cooling systems.