Most BBQs use propane. Propane burns quite well and it is quite clean.
So why hasn't anyone use it as a rocket fuel??
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Sign up to join this communityMost BBQs use propane. Propane burns quite well and it is quite clean.
So why hasn't anyone use it as a rocket fuel??
If you're going with cryofuels (and don't want to dabble in liquid hydrogen, which opens another can of worms), you're better off with liquid methane for its performance - higher specific impulse thanks to higher hydrogen:carbon ratio.
If you don't want cryofuels, you go with something that stays liquid at ambient temperature: RP-1 kerosene.
Propane, with ~5-7 bar vapor pressure at ambient temperatures would require a pressure tank (not acceptable on a rocket due to mass), or needs to be cooled to at least -42oC. This combines disadvantages of cryofuels and complex hydrocarbons, giving a very small specific impulse rise over RP-1, and while rather large, still insufficient boiling point rise above methane.
People have used it as rocket fuel, but its density isn't great compared to other hydrocarbons used as rocket fuel, which burn about as well and just as cleanly.