To Infinity and Beyond: An Optimization Study of Kerosene and Hydrogen Peroxide Bipropellant Fuels
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v11i3.2919Keywords:
Environmentally friendly, Eco friendly, Rocket fuel, Hydrazine, Hydrogen Peroxide, Hydroxylammonium Nitrate, Kerosene, Cost effective, CalorimetryAbstract
Currently, hydrazine fuels are grossly inefficient in terms of environmentally friendliness and handling costs. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and kerosene bipropellants have recently shown promise as a fuel that is similar in efficiency to hydrazine yet superior in cost and environmentally friendliness. Previous research on H2O2/kerosene bipropellants view environmentally friendliness, cost effectiveness, and fuel efficiency separately, making comparison between these properties difficult. This research uses calorimetry to provide a new method of quickly and precisely finding optimal ratios of fuels in bipropellants. For different ratios of fuel, efficiency was measured by finding the fuel mixture’s specific energy, environmentally friendliness was measured by finding the fuel mixture’s efficiency per carbon released into the atmosphere, and cost effectiveness was measured by finding the fuel mixture’s efficiency per unit fuel cost. The Cobb-Douglas function was used to optimize for multiple fuel properties at the same time: environmentally friendliness and efficiency, cost effectiveness and efficiency, and environmentally friendliness and cost effectiveness. These double optimizations brought new properties of H2O2/kerosene bipropellant fuels to light, notably that the optimal ratio of fuel for environmentally friendliness coincides with the optimal ratio for fuel efficiency, and the bipropellant remains efficacious in terms of efficiency even while operating at the optimal quantity for cost effectiveness. In short, these findings reaffirm H2O2 and kerosene bipropellants as great potential candidates for an eco-friendly and cost effective replacement of hydrazine because of their unique potential to remain environmentally friendly even at optimally efficient ratios.
Downloads
References or Bibliography
Akhter, M. Z., & Hassan, M. A. (2021). Ballistic and thermomechanical characterisation of paraffin-based hybrid rocket fuels loaded with light metal hydrides. Acta Astronautica, 178, 370–381. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2020.09.015
Amrousse, R., Katsumi, T., Azuma, N., & Hori, K. (2017). Hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN)-based green propellant as alternative energy resource for potential hydrazine substitution: From lab scale to pilot plant scale-up. Combustion & Flame, 176, 334–348. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.combustflame.2016.11.011
Cervone, A., Torre, L., d’ Agostino, L., Musker, A. J., Roberts, G. T., Bramanti, C., & Saccoccia, G. (2006). Development of Hydrogen Peroxide Monopropellant Rockets. 42nd AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2006-5239
Cican, G., & Mitrache, A.-D. (2017). Rocket solid propellant alternative based on ammonium dinitramide. INCAS Bulletin, 9(1), 17–24. https://doi.org/10.13111/2066-8201.2017.9.1.2
Douroudgari, H., Vahedpour, M., & Khouini, F. (2021). Atmospheric reaction of hydrazine plus hydroxyl radical. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92563-8
Ingenito, A. (2018). Impact of hydrogen fueled hypersonic airliners on the O3 layer depletion. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 43(50), 22694–22704. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.09.208
Kleiner, K. (2008). Exotic nitrogen could offer safe rocket fuel. New Scientist, 198(2658), 17. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0262-4079(08)61333-0
Kordina, F. (2020). How much do rockets pollute? Everyday Astronaut. https://everydayastronaut.com/rocket-pollution/
Kovshov, S. V., Garkushev, A. U., & Sazykin, A. M. (2015). Biogenic technology for recultivation of lands contaminated due to rocket propellant spillage. Acta Astronautica, melof109, 203–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2014.11.011
Li, S., Ge, Y., Wei, X., & Li, T. (2016). Mixing and combustion modeling of hydrogen peroxide/kerosene shear-coaxial jet flame in lab-scale rocket engine. Aerospace Science & Technology, 56, 148–154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ast.2016.07.008
Manley, S. (2018). Green Rocket Fuels - Safer & Better Than Hydrazine (as if that's hard) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7jn9VApYqU
Melof, B., & Grubelich, M. (2001). Investigation of hypergolic fuels with hydrogen peroxide. 37th Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2001-3837
Moon, Y., Park, C., Jo, S., & Kwon, S. (2014). Design specifications of H2O2/kerosene bipropellant rocket system for space missions. Aerospace Science & Technology, 33(1), 118–121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ast.2014.01.006
Murachman, B., Sajono, Afandi, F., & Khaeri, J. (2013). Optimization study of the solid propellant (rocket fuel) based on extracted bitumen of Indonesian natural buton asphalt. ASEAN Journal of Chemical Engineering, 13(2), 57–72.
Nguyen, H. N., Chenoweth, J. A., Bebarta, V. S., Albertson, T. E., & Nowadly, C. D. (2021). The toxicity, pathophysiology, and treatment of acute hydrazine propellant exposure: A systematic review. Military Medicine, 186(3/4), e319–e326. https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usaa429
Pelin, G., Stoica, C., Pelin, C.-E., & Balasa, R. (2020). High concentration hydrogen peroxide for rocket fuel applications. INCAS Bulletin, 12(3), 151–157. https://doi.org/10.13111/2066-8201.2020.12.3.12
Romantsova, O. V., & Ulybin, V. B. (2015). Safety issues of high-concentrated hydrogen peroxide production used as rocket propellant. Acta Astronautica, 109, 231–234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2014.10.022
Thompson, A. (2019). NASA's New Salmon-Colored 'Green' Fuel Is a Much Safer Propellant. Space.com. https://www.space.com/falcon-heavy-pink-green-fuel.html
Yun, Y., Huh, J., Kim, Y., Heo, S., Kim, H. & Kwon, S. (2021). Scale-Up validation of hydrogen peroxide/high-density polyethylene hybrid rocket with multiport solid fuel. Journal of Spacecraft & Rockets, 58(2), 552–565. https://doi.org/10.2514/1.A34707
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2022 Luke Kline; Kate Rennix, Rachel Gutzler
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright holder(s) granted JSR a perpetual, non-exclusive license to distriute & display this article.
