Quantitation of a metal deactivator additive by derivatization and gas chromatography--mass spectrometry

Effect of Metal Sequestrants on the Decomposition of Hydroxylammonium Nitrate

Hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN) is an energetic salt used in flight-proven green monopropellants such as ASCENT (formerly AF-M315E), flown in NASA’s 2019 Green Propellant Infusion Mission, and SHP163, flown in JAXA’s Rapid Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-1. The decomposition of HAN is catalyzed by metals commonly found in storage tanks, a factor limiting its use. This work investigates the ability of metal-sequestering chelating agents to inhibit the decomposition of HAN. Isothermal and dynamic thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to find isothermal decomposition rates, decomposition onset temperatures, and first-order Arrhenius reaction rate parameters. In the present research, 2,2′-bipyridine (Bipy), triethanolamine (TEA), and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) were studied as 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, 1, and 5% by weight additives in 90% aqueous HAN. An isothermal decomposition rate of 0.137%/h at 348 K was observed for HAN. The addition of 1% Bipy and 1% TEA reduced the isothermal decomposition rate by 20.4% to 0.109%/h, and by 3.65% to 0.132%/h, respectively, showing that Bipy can inhibit decomposition. The addition of 1% EDTA increased the isothermal decomposition rate by 12.4% to 0.154%/h. Bipy was found to increase the decomposition onset temperature from 454.8 K to 461.8 K, while the results for TEA and EDTA were inconclusive. First order reaction rates calculated by the Ozawa-Flynn-Wall method were found to be insufficient to capture the effects of the tested additives. Bipy was found to inhibit the decomposition of HAN, while TEA and EDTA produced little or negative effect, a result believed to be due to poor metal complex stability at low pH and high acidity, respectively. Spectrophotometry, used for colorimetric analysis of Bipy+iron complexes, showed that Bipy forms chelate complexes with trace iron impurities when added to HAN solutions.

Comparative mixture effects of JP-8(100) additives on the dermal absorption and disposition of jet fuel hydrocarbons in different membrane model systems

Jet fuel are complex mixtures of hydrocarbon fuel components and performance additives. Three different membrane systems, silastic, porcine skin and the isolated perfused porcine skin flap (IPPSF) were used to gain insight into the possible mechanism for additive interactions on hydrocarbon component absorption. Influence of JP-8(100) additives on the dermal kinetics of 14C-naphthalene and 14C/3H-dodecane as markers of hydrocarbon absorption, were evaluated using analysis of means (ANOM) and analysis of variance (ANOVA). This study indicated that the naphthalene absorption through silastic membrane was significantly different with JP-8 plus individual additives as compared to controls, i.e. JP-8 and JP-8(100). The porcine skin data indicated that neither individual nor combinations of additives affected naphthalene absorption. The third membrane system (IPPSF) showed that only MDA and BHT were important additives altering naphthalene absorption. MDA was a significant suppressor while BHT was a significant enhancer of naphthalene absorption. MDA significantly decreased dodecane absorption in skin flaps. All individual and combinations of two additives with JP-8 affected naphthalene and dodecane surface retention in silastic membrane. The IPPSF indicated that only 8Q405 is a significant modulator of surface retention for both marker hydrocarbons. The 8Q405 significantly reduced naphthalene contents in dosed silastic and skin indicating a direct interaction between additive and marker hydrocarbons. The MDA and BHT, which significantly retained naphthalene in the stratum corneum of porcine skin individually, led to a statistical decrease in its retention in the stratum corneum when in combination (MDA + BHT) suggesting a potential biological interaction. These observations demonstrate that the single membrane system may not be suitable for the final prediction of complex additive interactions in jet fuels. Rather a combination of different membrane systems may provide the insight to elucidate the possible mechanism for additive interactions. Finally, it is important to assess all components of a chemical mixture since the effects of single components administered alone or as pairs may be confounded when all are present in the complete mixture.