Beeswax–EVA/Activated-Charcoal-Based Fuels for Hybrid Rockets: Thermal and Ballistic Evaluation

Sri Nithya Mahottamananda, Yash Pal, Mengu Dinesh and Antonella Ingenito
Additional contact information
Sri Nithya Mahottamananda: Department of Aerospace Engineering, B S Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science & Technology, Chennai 600048, India
Yash Pal: School of Aeronautical Science, Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science, Chennai 603103, India
Mengu Dinesh: Department of Aerospace Engineering, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Coimbatore 641114, India
Antonella Ingenito: School of Aerospace Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, 00138 Rome, Italy

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 20, 1-16

Abstract: Beeswax (C 46 H 92 O) is a naturally derived substance that has the potential to be used as a solid fuel for hybrid rocket applications and as a substitute for paraffin wax fuel in hybrid rockets. BW burns more efficiently than paraffin wax because of the oxygen molecule it contains. The low thermal stability and poor mechanical properties of BW limit its practical use for upper-stage propulsion applications, and these issues are rarely addressed in the literature on hybrid rockets. This study investigates the thermal stability and ballistic properties of BW using ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) and activated charcoal (AC) as an additive. The thermal stability of BW–EVA/AC fuel compositions was analyzed using a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). The thermal stability of the blended BW compositions improved significantly. A laboratory-scale hybrid rocket motor was used to evaluate such aspects of ballistic performance as regression rate, characteristic velocity, and combustion efficiency. The results revealed that the pure BW exhibited a higher regression rate of 26.5% at an oxidizer mass flux of 96.4 kg/m 2 -s compared to BW–EVA/AC blends. The addition of EVA and AC to BW was found to increase the experimental characteristic velocity and combustion efficiency. The combustion efficiency of BW-based fuel was improved from 62% to 94% when 20 wt.% EVA and 2 wt.% AC were added into the fuel matrix.

Keywords: beeswax; ethylene-vinyl acetate; activated charcoal; regression rate; combustion efficiency; hybrid rocket motor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/20/7578/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/20/7578/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:20:p:7578-:d:942083

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().