An assessment of homogeneous catalysis for the rapid decomposition of hydrogen peroxide

Abstract

Liquid catalysts for decomposing hydrogen peroxide in rocket engines have certain advantages over conventional gauzes or pellets. The most potent liquid agents for achieving this decomposition are the permanganates. However, permanganates have a tendency to precipitate at the outlet to the injector and this militates against their use for multiple engine restarts. Against this background, the authors have investigated the feasibility of using different liquid agents to achieve the rapid decomposition needed for use in both monopropellant and bipropellant rocket applications. The results to date suggest that it is unlikely that any of the candidate agents considered will match the performance of the permanganates. However, at least one of the agents (sodium iodide) was found to initiate a very high decomposition rate, albeit with an undesirable initial delay. It was found that ferrous chloride tetrahydrate had no such delay and was capable of producing useful decomposition temperatures