Decomposition of Nitromethane Over NiO and Cr₂O₃ Catalysts

The reaction of nitromethane over NiO/alumina and Cr₂O₃/alumina catalysts was examined to determine the feasibility of developing a nitromethane based monopropellant system. The kinetics of nitromethane decomposition over those two catalysts were found to be adequately represented by Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetics over the conditions T— 100–300°C, P= 1–60 torr. Nitromethane decomposition caused catalyst deactivation by carbon deposition due to the fuel rich nature of nitromethane. It is suggested that nitromethane be mixed with an oxidant rich material to eliminate the problem of carbon deposition to develop a functional monopropellant system.