Heat energy and mass balance determination for the combustion of potassium nitrate based model rocket fuels.
Gordon, James
A method for determining the products of the combustion of
potassium nitrate and sugar based rocket fuels is proposed. Six mass
ratios ranging from 50/50 to 75/25 of potassium nitrate to the sugars
sucrose and fructose were studied to determine the identity of the
products of the reaction as well as the effect of varying concentrations
of reactants upon the products. Approximately .3g samples from each of
the ratios were pressed into pellets using a standard 10 ton hydraulic
press and combusted in a bomb calorimeter to determine the heat energy
of the reaction. Gas chromatography using a 6' molecular sieve
column was then employed to separate and identify the products of the
combustion reactions in an attempt to determine the mass balance for
each of the various reaction mixtures. Twenty milliliter samples of the
gases given off by the combustion of the fuels were injected and
resulting peaks were compared to known standard gases [O.sub.2],
[N.sub.2], C[O.sub.2], CO, and C[H.sub.4]. From the comparison of the
products to the standards it was possible to determine the
concentrations of some of the gases produced from the combustion of
potassium nitrate based model rocket fuels.
* Sherrill, W. M., R. B. Siebert, R. Holden and K.E. Garrison.
Department of Chemistry, College of the Ozarks.
