Acoustically Intensified Reactor-Driven Mixed-base Hydrogen Peroxide System

This Phase I project will develop and demonstrate an advanced process that utilizes a novel, high-intensity, low-frequency acoustic mixing technology in a system to rapidly produce a specialty fuel for use in chemical oxygen iodine lasers. The fuel is ahighly-reactive, mixed-base hydrogen peroxide (MHP). The MHP is used by a chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL), which is the central element for the Airborne Laser (ABL) weapons system. The proposed technology is flexible enough to provide for mixing of thecomponents in any order. The compact size and compartmentalization of the system make it readily transportable by aircraft. The Phase I project will incorporate experimental work to generate mass and heat transfer data as it pertains to the reactingsystem, bound the stability of the process and develop control information. Results of the proposed work will be used to engineer the system. The Phase I deliverable is a preliminary process design package consisting of a process flow diagram, piping andinstrumentation diagrams, a major equipment list, a preliminary layout and an electrical single line diagram. Phase II will result in the design, fabrication and delivery and operation of a fully operational prototype system. The proposed technology hasdirect application to processes where exothermic reactions in viscous fluids must be processed under carefully controlled conditions such as those in the polymer industry and to other chemical industrial processes where process intensification is sought,for example, to increase throughput of existing facilities or to minimize the amount of hazardous materials that must be processed at a given time.