Petroleum-based Propellants

The design of propellants for solid fuel rockets differs considerably from that for ordnance, because of the lower operating pressures, usually below 15 MPa. To understand the principles involved it is first necessary to give a brief account of rocket propulsion. In this account considerations will be restricted to motors based on solid propellants. Motors based on liquid fuels, such as petroleum fractions and liquid oxygen, depend on combustion processes of non-explosive type. 

In a 1994 incident, during a grinding operation on a tank holding petroleum-based sludge, the tank was propelled upward, injuring 17 workers and spilling its contents over a containment berm into a nearby river. 

Petroleum-based propellants are usually made of high-purity refined kerosene, i.e., n-dode-cane (n-C H J denoted by the acronym RP-1. The chemical purity of the petroleum is an important parameter as combustion residues (e.g., soot, coke and tar) must be kept at a minimum to prevent clogging. Petroleum fuels are usually used in combination with liquid oxygen as the oxidizer. Despite dehvering a lower specific impulse than cryogenic fuels, kerosene performs better than hypergolic propellants. 

Soy protein can be easily isolated from soybeans and molded. Soy plastics, which for a short period were used in automotive knobs and even body panels, never saw the widespread adoption predicted by Henry Ford in the 1930s. The Second World War sent his dream of growing a car like a crop into oblivion. Yet, as bio-based materials were being phased out by a growing synthetic, petroleum-based plastics industry, soy-protein plastics were being researched at the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan, probably propelled by its leader Henry Ford s conscience, in an effort to give back to the American farmer what Ford tractors had taken away. 

One of the older US mortar proplnts contained vaseline(petroleum jelly) which presumably acted as a stabilizer and flash-reducer. The compn of this proplnt was NC(13.15%N) 54, NG 43 vaseline 3%, with 0.5% DPhA added(US Spec 50-12-4A). Another older US cannon, proplnt contained TNT and hydrocellulose. Its compn was NC(12.6%N) 49, NG 20, TNT 20 hydrocellulose 10%. Here TNT was added for the same purpose as DNT(See under Single-Base Cannon Propellants). Hydrocellulose was used as flash-reducer. Its "cooling effect is due to development of large amts of gaseous products,... 

Plastic substances serve many different purposes. They are, however, for the most part derived from very simple and very similar raw materials. Thus the three sources of raw material overlap in the most remarkable fashion. This is not the case with the older organic industries, based on coal tar, which present a close analogy in some respects. In these a simple substance like benzene may be converted into an astonishing variety of dyes or maybe pharmaceuticals, perfumes, or photographic chemicals, but they cannot be made from things that grow or from petroleum. In the plastics industry alcohol may be said to play the part of benzene. Alcohol is easily converted into acetic acid, acetic anhydride, acetone, or even ethylene. Ethylene is used not only as a raw material for plastics, but for making mustard gas. So too, ether and acetone are used in the manufacture of propellants. [Emphasis added.] ... 

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