Solid Propellant Environmental Issues

The objective of the Solid Propellant Environmental Issues (SPEI) project is to demonstrate environmentally acceptable technologies that will enhance the continued production of solid rocket motors (SRMs) by complying with current and anticipated environmental regulations. Phase I of the project identifies current and anticipated environmental regulations that may affect SRMs manufacturing in the future and identify emerging process technologies which comply with these regulations. Phase II of the project established a baseline database by fabricating a 363 kg motor using the current manufacturing process. In Phase III, environmentally acceptable process technologies were evaluated, ranked, and selected for demonstration using criteria developed by the team. The results for Phases I-III have previously been presented. This paper will present data obtained to date on Phase IV. In Phase IV, the alternate process technologies were evaluated for compatibility, cleaning effectiveness, and waste minimization/pollution prevention. The best performing candidate for each application area was selected for demonstration. The selected process technologies will be inserted into the baseline manufacturing process from Phase II. The new manufacturing process will be demonstrated and evaluated through the scale-up and fabrication of two 363 kg solid rocket motors.