[AR] Re: RP-1 versus ethanol for a student rocket?
- From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2020 01:25:44 -0400 (EDT)
On Tue, 13 Oct 2020, Yucca Works wrote:
For one, we don't have an infinite budget at our disposal so Ethanol
becomes immediately appealing because it is easy to source...
Question: are you thinking of pure ethanol or denatured ethanol?
If the former, have you checked liquor-regulation paperwork? If it's
drinkable, both the Feds (including the notorious BATF, that's what the A
stands for) and your state bureaucrats care about it. That may complicate
obtaining it, and might require onerous bookkeeping to establish that not
one drop of your fuel is being diverted to unauthorized entertainment
purposes.
If the latter, have you got a supplier who'll tell you exactly what the
denaturant is and promise that it won't change? A considerable variety of
things are used to denature ethanol, and some of them could cause issues
(notably for regen cooling), and a local supplier may buy from more than
one wholesaler without telling you.
Consider isopropanol as an alternative. Not significantly more expensive
(last I heard), a slightly better fuel, and a routine industrial chemical
with no nosy bureaucrats dedicated to supervising it.
...but sourcing RP-1 is difficult and it is expensive.
Exxsol D-40 (an obscure industrial solvent) is slightly better than RP-1,
and also cheaper and more readily available.
Henry
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