Premium
Impact of HAN Ternary Propellant System Decomposition on Catalytic Sustainability
Author(s) -
Agnihotri Ruchika,
Oommen Charlie
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
propellants, explosives, pyrotechnics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.56
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1521-4087
pISSN - 0721-3115
DOI - 10.1002/prep.202000110
Subject(s) - catalysis , monopropellant , ternary operation , materials science , decomposition , propellant , methanol , ternary numeral system , chemical engineering , cobalt , inorganic chemistry , chemistry , metallurgy , organic chemistry , computer science , engineering , programming language
Aqueous solution of Hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN) in combination with a suitable fuel has been explored as a promising high performing green monopropellant in recent times. The current study primarily explores the effect of the addition of a fuel component into HAN solution on the sustainability of a recently developed catalyst which was examined for the only binary system consisting of HAN and water. The HAN ternary system examined was HAN: methanol: water in 70 : 15 : 15 (w/w) composition. The endurance of an ‘iridium over alumina’ catalyst and an indigenously developed cobalt doped ceria‐based catalyst was analysed using a batch reactor wherein a pressure rise during decomposition of propellant whilst a pulse mode operation was monitored. Catalysts were also characterized via SEM/EDS, XRD, and XPS to identify changes over the period of sequential injection in the batch reactor. Doped ceria catalyst was found to be far robust and resistant to any poisoning when compared to iridium catalyst at run time of the operation involving nearly 45 sequential injections of propellant over the catalyst.