Study of the Combustion of Beeswax and Beeswax With Aluminum Powder in Hybrid Propellant Rocket Engine

Naoumov, Viatcheslav; Nguyen, Huy Hung; Alcalde, Beatriz

doi:10.2514/6.2016-2145

Cited by 2 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Another very interesting natural fuel is beeswax [164][165][166][167][168][169][170]. Beeswax (cera alba) is a natural wax produced by honeybees of the genus Apis.…”

Section: Bio-derived Fuelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of Alternative Sustainable Fuels for Hybrid Rocket Propulsion

Barato

2023

Aerospace

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Hybrid rockets using specific oxidizer–fuel combinations are considered a green alternative to current propulsion systems, as they do not release very toxic or polluting exhausts, but only much less harmful substances such as carbon monoxide/dioxide and soot. However, in a long-term vision where space access and rocket transportation become a daily routine all around the world, the simple use of current green propellants could begin to become insufficient if the rest of the industry already follows much stricter rules, which are expected to tighten significantly in the future, thereby making emissions from rocket flights no more negligible. In this paper, the possible use of alternative sustainable solid fuels for hybrid rockets that are not derived from fossil fuels and are ideally carbon neutral is investigated and discussed based on the available data in the hybrid literature and on the literature related to renewable fuels in general. Even if this topic is apparently far away from the current necessities, as hybrid propulsion is not yet operational, it is paramount to consider a long-term vision and associated research efforts to make sure that the potential hybrid propulsion introduction to the commercial market is more than a simple flash in the pan, but offers a solid opportunity.

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“…Another very interesting natural fuel is beeswax [164][165][166][167][168][169][170]. Beeswax (cera alba) is a natural wax produced by honeybees of the genus Apis.…”

Section: Bio-derived Fuelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of Alternative Sustainable Fuels for Hybrid Rocket Propulsion

Barato

2023

Aerospace

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“…The field of beeswax-fueled hybrid chemical propulsion is considerably underdeveloped compared to paraffin. An extensive search of literature related to beeswax hybrid rocket fuels yields a series of initial studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville culminating in two postgraduate theses [10,34,35], a series of annual senior design projects at Central Connecticut State University [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44], and the lone peer reviewed article in the field of beeswax propulsion by the Egyptian Space Technology Centre [45]. Most of these works generally investigated a broad range of bioderived hybrid rocket fuels, but beeswax consistently proved most practical as a hybrid rocket fuel.…”

Section: B Beeswax 1) Evaluation As a Hybrid Rocket Fuelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A series of studies by Naoumov et al from 2013 to 2020 attempted to establish regression rate comparisons between paraffin, beeswax, and each of these with up to 10% micron-sized aluminum powder added for fuel grain port diameters of 12.7, 25.4, and 38.1 mm at combustion chamber pressures of 0.448 to 0.965 MPa [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]. Over 150 hot fires were conducted with gaseous oxygen alongside theoretical thermodynamic calculations which showed (1) little influence of aluminum addition on regression rate, (2) experimentally-determined regression rates of beeswax above those for paraffin reported by Karabeyoglu [3] but below those for beeswax reported by Putnam [35] at similar conditions; namely, oxidizer mass fluxes between 0.7 and 1.75 g/cm 2 s. Experimental efforts in these studies were plagued with low oxidizer mass flow rates (0.5-0.95 equivalence ratios), though in the most recent work attempts at increasing the mass flow rate of gaseous oxygen proved successful [44].…”

Section: B Beeswax 1) Evaluation As a Hybrid Rocket Fuelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An idiosyncrasy of this series of studies is the novel attempt to estimate unburned fuel losses using thermocouples placed downstream of the nozzle exit, predominantly discussed in Naoumov 2015 [39]. The publication most focused on beeswax and beeswax with aluminum additive results is that of Naoumov 2016a [40]. Throughout this series of studies, fuel grains were drip casted and geometric voids were observed, though improvements in the drip casting process were noted by Naoumov 2020 [44] which were characterized by low-conductivity casting materials housing the solidifying wax.…”

Section: B Beeswax 1) Evaluation As a Hybrid Rocket Fuelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, the beeswax chemical composition literature reports a large presence of triacontanol (CH3(CH2)29OH; up to 65%, per Putnam [35]), a molecule with extraordinary similarities to the paraffin wax used in this study as well as many prior studies, CH3(CH2)30CH3. An average chemical formula for beeswax used by Putnam and Naoumov is C46H92O, with molecular mass of 661.2 g/mol [35,40]. Using this chemical formula, the stoichiometric global reactions for the combustion of beeswax and paraffin with molecular oxygen and nitrous oxide are shown in Reactions [1][2][3][4].…”

Section: A Beeswax Refinement and Chemistrymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Centrifugal Casting of Paraffin and Beeswax for Hybrid Rockets

Stober

Sanchez

Wanyiri

et al. 2020

AIAA Propulsion and Energy 2020 Forum

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A high-level research framework is presented which seeks to navigate the barriers associated with reusing wax phase change material onboard a satellite as a hybrid rocket fuel for de-orbit or other in-space propulsion needs, while also conducting fundamental studies of the fluid mechanics and heat transfer phenomena which drive the cooling and solidification of wax within a horizontal rotating cylinder in various gravitational and thermal environments. A detailed review of past work in the area of beeswax fuel for hybrid chemical propulsion is reported and served to motivate consideration of this fuel for centrifugal casting efforts, due to previously reported values of regression rate comparable to that of paraffin wax. The production process of beeswax fuel from beekeeping detritus was perfected and documented. Analysis of the shrinkage of beeswax and the neat Candlewic FR5560 paraffin wax used herein determined a volume shrinkage percentage during liquid to solid phase transition of 18.7 ± 0.62 and 13.3 ± 0.22%, respectively. An image analysis routine was developed in order to automate the process of determining the instantaneous solidification rate for each one-second timestep through the centrifugal casting process of paraffin and beeswax fuel grain sizes common for small-scale hybrid rockets. Beeswax completed solidification in 22% less time than paraffin under identical conditions but exhibited more coning of resulting solid wax. Calculated time-and space-averaged solidification rates for paraffin and beeswax were 0.017 and 0.028 mm/s, respectively, within a 50.8 mm inner diameter, 57.15 mm outer diameter, and 254 mm length polycarbonate tube. Careful analysis, however, shows that instantaneous solidification rate increases very slightly but steadily over time for both paraffin and beeswax, though the rate increase is greater for beeswax. The image analysis routine was most effective when applied to the beeswax solidification process as compared to that of paraffin, as the solid/liquid interface is considerably more salient in beeswax due to a distinct color change upon solidification. Dye will be used with paraffin casting in the future with the goal of improving solid/liquid phase contrast.

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Study of the Combustion of Beeswax and Beeswax With Aluminum Powder in Hybrid Propellant Rocket Engine

Cited by 2 publications

References 9 publications

Review of Alternative Sustainable Fuels for Hybrid Rocket Propulsion

Review of Alternative Sustainable Fuels for Hybrid Rocket Propulsion

Centrifugal Casting of Paraffin and Beeswax for Hybrid Rockets

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