How do they make rocket propellant? An explanation:

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prfesser

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This is a question often asked on these forums. A brief description may help you realize the time, money, and effort in such work. Most propellant today is obtained from surface mining operations:
upload_2020-1-16_12-40-22.png

The overburden is removed and the crude propellant collected and dispensed into large piles.
upload_2020-1-16_12-39-9.png

The large chunks of propellant are ground to uniform size and stored aboveground...
upload_2020-1-16_12-42-3.png

...until it is trucked to the propellant processing plant for storage and ultimate use.
upload_2020-1-16_12-43-37.png

Impure propellant (orange material) is carefully washed to remove impurities, and reground.
upload_2020-1-16_12-44-51.png

The clean propellant ordinarily coagulates into lumps, which are then melted and cast into blocks after certain additives have been incorporated.
upload_2020-1-16_12-47-51.png

In small operations casting is done by hand.
upload_2020-1-16_12-46-11.png

Now the propellant blocks are ready to be extruded into propellant grains, under high pressure.
upload_2020-1-16_12-49-15.png

In some equatorial countries propellant can be found on the surface. These men are hand-mining smaller chunks of surface propellant, which is usually purer than that found underground.
upload_2020-1-16_12-50-34.png

Small batches of "craft propellant" are produced daily in Ethiopia and a few other countries.
upload_2020-1-16_12-52-37.png

You're very welcome.:D
Tongue-in-cheekily yours -- Terry
(I'll probably regret constructing this...)
 
This is a question often asked on these forums. A brief description may help you realize the time, money, and effort in such work. Most propellant today is obtained from surface mining operations:
View attachment 403741

The overburden is removed and the crude propellant collected and dispensed into large piles.
View attachment 403740

The large chunks of propellant are ground to uniform size and stored aboveground...
View attachment 403742

...until it is trucked to the propellant processing plant for storage and ultimate use.
View attachment 403744

Impure propellant (orange material) is carefully washed to remove impurities, and reground.
View attachment 403745

The clean propellant ordinarily coagulates into lumps, which are then melted and cast into blocks after certain additives have been incorporated.
View attachment 403747

In small operations casting is done by hand.
View attachment 403746

Now the propellant blocks are ready to be extruded into propellant grains, under high pressure.
View attachment 403748

In some equatorial countries propellant can be found on the surface. These men are hand-mining smaller chunks of surface propellant, which is usually purer than that found underground.
View attachment 403749

Small batches of "craft propellant" are produced daily in Ethiopia and a few other countries.
View attachment 403750

You're very welcome.:D
Tongue-in-cheekily yours -- Terry
(I'll probably regret constructing this...)
I always thought it was elves in trees and detached garages......
 
Could you share your formula for NaCl propellant? I'm going to LDRS this year, I could pick up a bunch of it!
Wow, those are some really spicy chemicals. Make sure to be extra safe, you don't want to be peppered with bits of test stand!
 
Could you share your formula for NaCl propellant? I'm going to LDRS this year, I could pick up a bunch of it!
Sure.
55% common table NaCl
23% kosher NaCl
3% powdered sugar (trimodality gives better packing)
0.1% lampblack opacifier
11% Gulf wax (do NOT use candle wax, composition is uncertain)
5% Crisco (Get the CAN not the sticks; composition varies)
2.9% corn oil (plasticizer)

Melt the wax first over indirect heat (no flames! flammable). Add the Crisco and stir until melted. Add the corn oil slowly, mixing thoroughly.
While melted and under heat, add the dry ingredients about a third at a time, mixing thoroughly (by hand! DO NOT use any kind of power mixer!!)
It will take a while for the dry ingredients to come to temperature and re-melt the binder.

This formula is not pourable, it is packed into casting tubes and drilled in the usual fashion. May be somewhat hard to ignite.

Best -- Terry
...who thought he had no ability to write fiction...
 
you forgot to mention the binder. Here's a shot of processing it.
 

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Sure.
55% common table NaCl
23% kosher NaCl
3% powdered sugar (trimodality gives better packing)
0.1% lampblack opacifier
11% Gulf wax (do NOT use candle wax, composition is uncertain)
5% Crisco (Get the CAN not the sticks; composition varies)
2.9% corn oil (plasticizer)

Melt the wax first over indirect heat (no flames! flammable). Add the Crisco and stir until melted. Add the corn oil slowly, mixing thoroughly.
While melted and under heat, add the dry ingredients about a third at a time, mixing thoroughly (by hand! DO NOT use any kind of power mixer!!)
It will take a while for the dry ingredients to come to temperature and re-melt the binder.

This formula is not pourable, it is packed into casting tubes and drilled in the usual fashion. May be somewhat hard to ignite.

Best -- Terry
...who thought he had no ability to write fiction...

Dear Professor,

I must say I’m disappointed. I followed your recipe, and the outcome was a complete failure. I admit I had to make some minor ingredient substitutes (didn’t have any lampblack opacifier in the pantry), but I am very surprised at the result. The propellant doesn’t even burn (please ignore what I used to cast the grains - it’s all I had at the time.

If you have any suggestions (or maybe you forgot an important ingredient or step?), please let me know. Again, I’m very disappointed.

My kids think it’s delicious, though.
16E19B1B-062B-4AA4-A089-CE0CD90B25D4.jpeg
I keep telling them not to eat the rocket fuel, but they won’t stop.
 
Dear Professor,

I must say I’m disappointed. I followed your recipe, and the outcome was a complete failure. I admit I had to make some minor ingredient substitutes (didn’t have any lampblack opacifier in the pantry), but I am very surprised at the result. The propellant doesn’t even burn (please ignore what I used to cast the grains - it’s all I had at the time.

If you have any suggestions (or maybe you forgot an important ingredient or step?), please let me know. Again, I’m very disappointed.

My kids think it’s delicious, though.
View attachment 406363
I keep telling them not to eat the rocket fuel, but they won’t stop.
CTI's new "Muff-Max" propellant.
 
I tried making some propellant according to the recipe from prfesser. While it was hanging out to dry, some birds started pecking at it. They'd eaten a fair old chunk before I chased them off. Then they went to a neighbour's front door, where a bottle of milk had been delivered and not yet taken in, and the birds started pecking through the foil cap to get at the cream. Next thing I knew, the birds went near supersonic across the street and splatted into someone's garage door.

I'm not sure exactly what part of the process was responsible for the fuel's performance. Some experimenting with milk additive is in order. If that doesn't work, the next rocket motor I use is going to look suspiciously like a well-fed budgie.

(There is some historical evidence for the effectiveness of a bird's digestive system on rocket fuel. One account of the pirate Blackbeard refers to him feeding a parrot on a mixture of curry powder and coffee beans. The parrot would sit on his shoulder, near to the cannon fuses which Blackbeard stuck in his beard, then go screaming across the enemy ship's deck trailing fire and smoke.)
 
Hm. well there is mining guano from the far regions of South America, and collecting Sulfur from god know where. By comparison, good charcoal is easy to produce.
 
Hm. well there is mining guano from the far regions of South America, and collecting Sulfur from god know where. By comparison, good charcoal is easy to produce.

Another word for sulfur is "brimstone", so perhaps that should be "from Devil knows where"...
 
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