Hydrogen Peroxide, Hydroxyl Ammonium Nitrate, and Other Storable Oxidizers

Abstract

A liquid oxygen is in many respects the ideal oxidizer, its cryogenic nature makes it unsuitable for many applications. The plumbing and feed systems are complicated dramatically when using this fluid because provisions for boiloff and potential geysering must be included and cryogenic valves and pumps must be used for fluid control. In many military and space applications, oxidizer storability is desired, if not required, under mission constraints. For these reasons, there has always been ample motivation for study and development of hybrid rockets using storable oxidizers. Efforts dating back over the past 40 years have included study of such liquids/fluids as nitrogen tetroxide, nitric acid [and its variants red-fuming nitric acid (RFNA) and inhibited RFNA (IRFNA)], hydrogen peroxide (HP), hydroxyl ammonium nitrate (HAN), nitrous oxide, and other energetic liquids. Whereas there have been limited efforts on reverse hybrids using solid oxidizers and storable liquid fuels, these configurations are generally undesirable due to reduced safety and performance as compared to the traditional scheme. Gaseous oxygen is another storable oxidizer of note, but its poor density relegates it mainly to use in laboratory and ground demonstrations [1–6]. Table 1 summarizes some of the physical properties of these storable oxidizers. Nitric acid is particularly attractive for applications demanding low temperatures within the operating range due to its very low freezing point. Nitrogen tetroxide