Recovery of aluminum from composite propellants
OwnerRobert A. Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, with respect to an invention of Frosch, Graham C. Shawinventors
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Abstract
Aluminum is recovered from solid rocket propellant containing a small amount of oxidizer by depolymerizing and dissolving propellant binder containing functional or hydrolyzable groups in a solution of sodium methoxide in an alcohol solvent optionally containing an aliphatic or aromatic hydrocarbon co-solvent and then filtering the solution to recover substantially all the aluminum in active form.
Claims9
A method of recovering metal powder from a solid composite propellant comprising a synthetic polymeric binder containing hydrolyzable cured groups, and less than 15% oxidizer salt comprising the steps of:
- dissolving the composite propellant in an active transesterification solvent comprising an alcohol solution of a catalyst and the catalyst being present in an amount of at least 5% by weight based on composite propellant and is an alkali metal alkoxide of the formula MOR where M is an alkali metal and R is an alkyl group containing 1 to 6 carbon atoms whereby the binder is depolymerized into fragments soluble in the solvent;
- and
- separating the metal from the solution.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.