Methane application specifics as a fuel for liquid rocket engines

Аuthors

Kalugin K. S.^*, Sukhov A. V.

Bauman Moscow State Technical University, MSTU, 5, bldg. 1, 2-nd Baumanskaya str., Moscow, 105005, Russia

*e-mail: Kalugin-09@mail.ru

Abstract

At present, a significant part of the research aimed at increasing the energy and mass characteristics of liquid-propellant rocket engines (LPRE) is being performed in the field of new materials application and processing technologies. Other studies are aimed at modernizing the principle of organizing the work process. However, new fuels application is a more long-term and quickly realizable prospect notwithstanding the research costliness in the field of LPRE. Methane may appear one of the propellants, which application may become a new stage in rocket and space industry development. The article considers the historical process of methane formation as a liquid rocket fuel component since it was firstly mentioned by Tsiolkovsky in his works (“Exploration of the World Spaces with Jet Devices”, “Space Rocket”, “Jet Airplane”, “Achieving the Stratosphere”, etc.). A comparative analysis of methane with kerosene was performed in view of the similarity of the work process organization in the LPRE combustion chamber, as well as close hydrocarbon structure. A component close to methane, currently in use in rocket engines, is hydrogen due to the cryogenic nature of both components, which creates difficulties at the design stage of valves, pipelines and gas lines, as well as the organization of the work process in the combustion chamber. Additionally, analysis of the most common fuels based on kerosene, methane and hydrogen was performed. This is especially interesting, since methane fuel pair of oxygen-methane occupies an intermediate position between “oxygen-kerosene” and “oxygen-hydrogen” pairs with respect to the specific impulse and fuel mixture density. The analysis was performed based on physical-chemical, energy, operational, environmental, economic and some other characteristics. This allowed identify the main advantages and disadvantages of methane application as a LPRE fuel and determine its prospects both in Russian and foreign rocket and space industries.

A brief analysis of liquid rocket engines on methane, created or projected in NPO Energomash by V.P. Glushko, KBHA them. S.A. Kosberg, KB Himmash them. A.M. Isaev, the Research Center. M.V. Keldysh, and also to the American firm SpaceX.

Finally, it was concluded that the methane LPRE could replace oxygen-kerosene engines in the near future, since the fuel pair oxygen-methane outperformed the oxygen-kerosene pair by its energy, environmental and economic indicators. Interplanetary flights can become a special field of methane application, since a large amount of methane, the main element of natural gas, can be found almost everywhere in the solar system: on Mars, Titan, Jupiter and many other planets and satellites, which will allow refueling rockets in flight, significantly increasing them the flight range.

Keywords:

liquid rocket engine, methane, liquefied natural gas, rocket engine, liquid rocket fuel

References

1. Kovateva Yu.S., Vorob'ev A.G., Borovik I.N., Khokhlov A.N., Kazennov I.S. Vestnik Moskovskogo aviatsionnogo instituta, 2011, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 45-54.

2. Nikulin A.G. Vestnik Moskovskogo aviatsionnogo instituta, 2010, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 117-124.

3. Lux J., Haidn O. Effect of Recess in High-Pressure Liquid Oxygen/Methane Coaxial Injection and Combustion. Journal of Propulsion and Power, 2009, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 24-32. DOI: 10.2514/1.37308

4. Knunyants I.L. Khimicheskii entsiklopedicheskii slovar' (Chemical encyclopedic dictionary), Moscow, Sovetskaya entsiklopediya, 1983, 327 p.

5. Karelin V.Ya., Volshak V.V., Penshin A.G. Stroitel'nye materialy, oborudovanie, tekhnologii XXI veka, 2001, vol. 34, no. 11, pp. 26-28.

6. Tsiolkovskii K.E. Izbrannye trudy (Selected works), Moscow, AN SSSR, 1962, 536 p.

7. Tsiolkovskii K.E. Sobranie sochinenii. T. 2. Reaktivnye letatel'nye apparaty (Collected works. Vol. 2. Jet aircraft), Moscow, AN SSSR, 1954, 455 p.

8. Kondratyuk Yu.V. Zavoevanie mezhplanetnykh prostranstv (Conquest of interplanetary spaces), Novosibirsk, Izdanie avtora, 1929, 87 p.

9. Lei V. Rakety i polety v kosmos (Rockets and flights into space), Moscow, Voenizdat, 1961, 423 p.

10. Golovanov Ya.K. Doroga na kosmodrom (The road to the cosmodrome), Moscow, Detskaya literatura, 1982, 551 p.

11. Glushko V.P. Kosmonavtika. Entsiklopediya (Astronautics. Encyclopedia), Moscow, Sovetskaya entsiklopediya, 1985, 528 p.

12. Glushko V.P. Put' v raketnoi tekhnike. Izbrannye trudy. 1924-1946 (The way in rocket technology. Selected works. 1924-1946), Moscow, Mashinostroenie, 1976, 504 p.

13. Zenger E. Tekhnika raketnogo poleta (Missile flight techniques), Moscow, Oborongiz, 1947, 300 p.

14. Kolbert M. Voprosy raketnoi tekhniki, 1967, no. 4, pp. 45-63.

15. Astronavtika i raketodinamika. Ekspress-informatsiya, 1988, no. 20, pp. 7-18.

16. Bratkov A.A., Seregin Ye.P., Gorenkov A.F., Chirkov A.M., Ilyinsky A.A., Zrelov V.N. Khimmotologiya raketnykh i reaktivnykh topliv (Chymotology of rocket and jet fuels), Moscow, Khimiya, 1987, 304 p.

17. Bolgarskii A.V., Shchukin V.K. Rabochie protsessy v zhidkostno-reaktivnykh dvigatelyakh (Work processes in liquid-jet engines), Moscow, Gos. izd-vo oboronnoi promyshlennosti, 1953, 424 p.

18. Katorgin B., Klepikov I. Aviapanorama, 1998, no. 4, pp. 58-60.

19. Novikov A.V., Yagodnikov D.A., Burkal'tsev V.A., Lapitskii V.I. Vestnik MGTU im. N.E. Baumana. Seriya Mashinostroenie, 2004, pp. 8-17.

20. Shaulov Yu.Kh., Legner M.O. Gorenie v zhidkostnykh raketnykh dvigatelyakh (Burning in liquid propellant rocket engines), Moscow, Oborongiz, 1961, 197 p.

21. Koroteev A.S., Samoilov L.P. Kosmonavtika I raketostroenie, 1999, no. 15, pp. 111-119.

22. Gaz goryuchii prirodnyi szhizhennyi. Toplivo dlya raketnoi tekhniki. Tekhnicheskie usloviya TU021 00480689–96. (Natural gas, liquefied gas. Fuel for rocket technology. Specifications TU021 00480689-96.), St. Petersburg, State Institute of Applied Chemistry, 1996, 15 p.