50% Hydrogen Peroxide - Ethanol Monopropellant Development

Key Technical Challenges: Establishing: stabilized 50% hydrogen peroxide/water is not destabilized by adding 10% by weight of 200 proof ethanol to the mixture; and, the ability of nickel to catalyze the steam reformation process of ethanol with heat released by the oxidizer supplied by the decomposition of the hydrogen peroxide Approach/Research Plan: Establish safety procedures for working with 50% Hydrogen peroxide and medical grade ethanol under a fume hood; Mix droplet quantities of the propellants to test for reactivity at room temperature; Mix a slightly larger quantity of the propellants at the 10% by weight proportion of ethanol and test stability by monitoring off-gassing or pressure rise in a test tube; and, Test catalyzed combustion of the monopropellant in resistively nickel microtube.\nDifferent/Complementary: Low grade i.e. 50% hydrogen peroxide/water is not projected to be used as a propellant in industry, academia, and/or government. This effort provides an alternative to the Air Force developed propellant AF-M315E which is encountering operational and cost issues.\nNext Step: If the propellant mixture is stable, users will want to know long term storability and other fluid properties.

Goal: Advance the TRL of a solution of 50% hydrogen peroxide/water and 200 proof ethanol from TRL2 to TRL3 for application as a monopropellant replacement for hydrazine.Capability Need/Knowledge Gap: Hydrazine substitutes are needed in onboard propulsion systems to reduce ground operations costs to satellite owners and toxic exposure to astronauts. Substitutes such as the Air Force developed AF-M315E are not readily available and are having developmental issues.\nState-of-the-Art/Knowledge: The stability of the proposed solution of 50% hydrogen peroxide/water and 200 proof ethanol is currently unknown. Silver is a known catalyst demonstrated to decompose hydrogen peroxide and nickel is a known catalyst demonstrated in the steam reformation process of hydrocarbons. One or a combination of these catalysts are compatible with the combustion temperature of the proposed monopropellant.

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