An exploratory study of some liquid catalysts for use with hydrogen peroxide

Liquid catalysts for decomposing hydrogen peroxide in rocket engines have certain advantages over solid catalysts. However, some liquid catalysts have a tendency to precipitate at the outlet to the injector, which militates against their use for multiple engine restarts. In the study reported here, experiments have been carried out with several liquid catalysts, from which the rate of reaction and the tendency to form precipitates are compared against the benchmark catalytic agent, sodium permanganate. The results to date suggest that, although exhibiting a reduced tendency to form precipitates, none of the candidate agents considered match the reaction rate of sodium permanganate. 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.