| Large-rocket-test facilities have the capability to capture most of the rocket motor's pollutants. Solid-rocket motors using a composite propellant made of aluminum, ammonium perchlorate, and butadiene produce exhausts that are dusty and acidic. A computer program developed by NASA was used to predict the exhausts of the rocket motor. Samples obtained from a rocket-test facility were used to characterize and to estimate the quantities of chlorides, and suspended solids and the pH of the scrubber liquid. The facilities were studied to explain the environmental processes of gas cleaning, particulate scrubbing, and wastewater treatment that the various spray coolers and ducting perform. Processes that generated pollution-abatement residues were studied. The aluminum oxide or rocket ash that was scrubbed from rocket exhausts was found to settle quicker in the catch chambers due to the low pH values caused by hydrogen chloride scrubbing. The ash was not found to be hazardous waste. |
