Hydroxylamine nitrate self-catalytic kinetics study with adiabatic calorimetry

Hydroxylamine nitrate (HAN) is an important member of the hydroxylamine compound family with applications that include equipment decontamination in the nuclear industry and aqueous or solid propellants. Due to its instability and autocatalytic behavior, HAN has been involved in several incidents at the Hanford and Savannah River Site (SRS) [Technical Report on Hydroxylamine Nitrate, US Department of Energy, 1998]. Much research has been conducted on HAN in different areas, such as combustion mechanism, decomposition mechanism, and runaway behavior. However, the autocatalytic decomposition behavior of HAN at runaway stage has not been fully addressed due to its highly exothermic and rapid decomposition behavior. This work is focused on extracting HAN autocatalytic kinetics and analyzing HAN critical behavior from adiabatic calorimetry measurements. A lumped autocatalytic kinetic model for HAN and associated model parameters are determined. Also the storage and handling critical conditions of diluted HAN solution without metal presence are quantified.