Characteristics of Nitromethane for Propulsion Applications

Abstract

Although hydrazine has been used for space thrusters for many years, recent environmental concerns h ave led to t he need for its replacement for monopropellant candidates with high -performance and reduced toxicity . This has led to study of nitromethane (NM, or CH 3NO 2), which offers potential to meet that need. Nitromethane is a readily -available industria l chemical and has a wide variety of applications, including use as a solvent for chemical processing and analysis. The energetic nature of th is compound also makes it useful as a liquid explosive and as a high -performance additive to fuel for internal co mbustion engines. As a storable high -energy monopropellant, it exhibits high specific impulse and has low toxicity. It also has a great potential to serve as the base for energetic gel propellants. To encourage and enable future propulsion studies, this p aper summarizes much of the previous and current work, and collects many properties necessary for combustion and propulsion studies.