• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.5-8
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• 2005

In this report the developing trends of several clean and green propellants have been summarized. A low-acid clean propellant has been developed, which substantially reduced the content of hydrochloric acid(HCl) in the solid rocket exhaust. Although the chlorine-free approach is now preferred, this technology has not been proved yet. Another acid suppression effect of Magnalium(Mg-Al Alloy) was investigated. Reports says that the concentration of HCl could be reduced to approximately one-fifth of conventional propellant. Many 'green' propellants with low toxicity are being developed for next-generation post-boost propulsion systems, in which combustion research on the Al or Mg fine metal particles with hot steam in various stoichiometric conditions are being performed.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.1180-1187
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• 2010

In the last decade, hydrogen peroxide has received renewed interest as a green propellant which is non-toxic, environmentally clean and relatively easy to handle. This study was performed to acquire the design technique and combustion performance of a 200N bi-propellant engine using hydrogen peroxide and kerosene. The engine which used a catalytic ignition method was designed and cold flow tests were carried out to investigate atomization characteristics. Combustion tests including a pulse mode operation were performed to investigate the combustion performance on various O/F ratios. The results showed that the combustion efficiency and the repeatability of the engine performance were enough to use as an essential database for the development of a high performance engine.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.37 no.7
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• pp.717-728
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• 2009

In the field of rocket propulsion system hydrogen peroxide has been used as mono-propellant and as the oxidizer of bi-propellants. At the beginning, hydrogen peroxide was used as mono-propellant for thrusters, but later it had been replaced by hydrazine, which has better specific impulse and storability. On the other hand, to drive turbo-pumps, hydrogen peroxide is still being utilized. As the oxidizer of bi-propellants it was used until 1970's and from 1990's hydrogen peroxide once again got back to developer's interest, because one of the recent development purposes of rocket propulsion system is low-cost and ecologically-clean. Until now the storability of hydrogen peroxide has been remarkably improved. The combination of Kerosene/$H_2O_2$ also shows similar accelerating performance to Kerosene/$LO_x$ combination because of higher propellant density and higher O/F ratio, even though the propulsion performance is not as good as the combination of Kerosene/$LO_x$. Moreover, its combustion products are much cleaner than Kerosene/$LO_x$ combination.

• Clean Technology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.190-195
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• 2016

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.

• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.247-254
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• 2021

In this study, an eco-friendly combustion process of waste 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT: 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene) was developed, and fundamental data for the quantity of the organic matter in the final combustion residues is presented. Because complete combustion of TNT is not possible theoretically, the combustion process was optimized to reduce organic matter content in the combustion residue by performing measures such as heating time changes, addition of propellant material, and after treatment using a high-temp electrical furnace. From the results, it was confirmed that the organic matter content in the residue could be decreased to 7 ~ 10% with each method. The quantity of the organic matter could be minimized by optimizing the combustion conditions of the process. With only a combustion time increase, the amount of organic matter in the combustion residues was measured at about 9 wt%. The environmental friendliness of the final exhaust gas was also confirmed by real time gas component analyses. In addition, the organic contents could be reduced by a further 2 wt% by applying an additional heat treatment using an external electric furnace after the first incineration treatment. In the combustion process of propellant added waste TNT, it was found that various TNT wastes could be treated using the same eco-friendly protocols because the organic content in the residue decreased in accordance with the amount of propellant. The amount of the organic matter content produced by all these methods fulfilled the requirements under the Waste Management Act.

• Clean Technology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.371-379
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• 2018

The objective of this study is to develop a platinum/hexaaluminate pellet catalyst for the decomposition of eco-friendly liquid propellant. Pellet catalysts using hexaaluminate prepared by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis as a support and platinum as an active metal were prepared by two methods. In the case of the pellet catalyst formed by loading the platinum precursor onto the hexaaluminate powder and then adding the binder (M1 method catalyst), the mesopores were well developed in the catalyst after calcination at $550^{\circ}C$. However, when this catalyst was calcined at $1,200^{\circ}C$, the mesopores almost collapsed and only a few macropores existed. On the other hand, in the case of a catalyst in which platinum was supported on pellets after the pellet was produced by extrusion of hexaaluminate (M2 method catalyst), the surface area and the mesopores were well maintained even after calcination at $1,200^{\circ}C$. Also, the catalyst prepared by the M2 method showed better heat resistance in terms of platinum dispersion. The effects of preparation method and calcination temperature of Pt/hexaaluminate pellet catalysts on the decomposition of liquid propellant composed mainly of ammonium dinitramide (ADN) or hydroxyl ammonium nitrate (HAN) were investigated. It was confirmed that the decomposition onset temperature during the decomposition of ADN- or HAN- based liquid propellant could be reduced significantly by using Pt/hexaaluminate pellet catalysts. Especially, in the case of the catalyst prepared by the M2 method, the decomposition onset temperature did not show a large change even when the calcination temperature was raised at $1,200^{\circ}C$. Therefore, it was confirmed that Pt/ hexaaluminate pellet catalyst prepared by M2 method has heat resistance and potential as a catalyst for the decomposition of the eco-friendly liquid propellants.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.196-200
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• 2012

To acquire indigenous development abilities of a future space launcher, bi-propellant liquid rocket engines using environmentally clean propellants such as hydrogen peroxide and methane have been developed by Chungnam national university. The necessary development technologies for the future liquid rocket engines were defined and have been acquired step-by-step in advance by sub-scale liquid rocket engines. Core techniques of design/manufacture/experiments to develop a future prototype liquid rocket engine will be obtained by this study.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2013

A liquid-monopropellant hydrazine thruster has several outstanding advantages such as relatively-simple structure, long/stable propellant storability, clean exhaust products, and so on. Therefore hydrazine thruster has such a wide application as orbit and attitude control system (ACS) for space vehicles. A hydrazine thruster with the medium-level thrust to be used in the ACS of space launch vehicles (SLV) has been developed, and its ground firing test result is presented in terms of thrust, impulse bit, temperature, and chamber pressure. It is verified through the performance test that the response and repeatability of thrust are very excellent, and the thrust efficiencies compared to its ideal requirement are larger than 93%.

• Clean Technology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.256-262
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• 2019

Hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN)-based liquid propellants are attracting attention as environmentally friendly propellants because they are not carcinogens and the combustion gases have little toxicity. The catalyst used to decompose the HAN-based liquid propellant in a thruster must have both low temperature activity and high heat resistance. The objective of this study is to prepare an Ru/alumina/metal foam catalyst by supporting alumina slurry on the surface of NiCrAl metal foam using a washing coating method and then to support a ruthenium precursor thereon. The decomposition activity of a HAN aqueous solution of the Ru/alumina/metal foam catalyst was evaluated. The effect of the number of repetitive coatings of alumina slurry on the physical properties of the alumina/metal foam was analyzed. As the number of alumina wash coatings increased, mesopores with a diameter of about 7 nm were well-developed, thereby increasing the surface area and pore volume. It was optimal to repeat the wash coating alumina on the metal foam 12 times to maximize the surface area and pore volume of the alumina/metal foam. Mesopores were also well developed on the surface of the Ru/alumina/metal foam catalyst. It was found that the metal form itself without the active metal and alumina can promote the decomposition reaction of the HAN aqueous solution. In the case of the Ru/alumina/metal foam-550 catalyst, the decomposition onset temperature was significantly lowered compared with that of the thermal decomposition reaction, and ${\Delta}P$ could be greatly increased in the decomposition of the HAN aqueous solution. However, when the catalyst was calcined at $1,200^{\circ}C$, the catalytic activity was lowered inevitably because the surface area and pore volume of the catalyst were drastically reduced and Ru was sintered. Further research is needed to improve the heat resistance of Ru/alumina/metal foam catalysts.