Borane additives for more zip?

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zip_fuel

What kind of performance increases are latent in fuel that we might be able to extract per gallon with boranes? They could really offer a whole new paradigm of greater fuel economy if the engines are designed right. Zip fuels were used in the 50s-60s to enhance propulsion power for Mach 3 cruising strategic bombers. That technology should have trickled down to the automotive world by now.
 
They did enhance performance. You're thinking of the fuels that the YJ-93 was intended to run on when it was in development for the F-108 Rapier and the XB-70 Valkyrie.

They were both very expensive (6 to 8 times the price per gallon) and very toxic.

Oh, and I think they can be hypergolic (exploding on contact with air). The SR-71 used a hypergolic compound, tri-ethyl borane, to ignite the JP-7 in the J-58 engine. The JP-7 fuel had such a high flashpoint, so that it wouldn't pose a fire risk with the skin heat of the SR-71, that a spark plug wound not ignite it reliably, so the TEB was injected into the combustors for engine start and into the AB for AB ignition. The limited TEB supply necessitated a counter, so that pilots would know how many AB "light-offs" remained available in flight.

So, expensive, toxic, and prone to explosion if they come in contact with air.

The USAF abandoned the zip fuels in the early 1960s...

And there is no way I want to see this stuff at my local SUNOCO...I've seen enough goobers filling up their cars that I have no desire to be near a guy pumping hypergolic, toxic zip fuel...
 
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I remember reading that NHRA Top Fuel racers were experimenting with hydrazine in the late 1960's. Supposedly they had a lot of spectacular engine explosions at the '69 US Nationals because of it.
 
Originally Posted By: Astro14

And there is no way I want to see this stuff at my local SUNOCO...I've seen enough goobers filling up their cars that I have no desire to be near a guy pumping hypergolic, toxic zip fuel...


I haven't seen Sunoco 104 in a blue moon. Is that still out there somewhere?
Signed: Goober
 
If race fuel manufacturers thought they could include it as an ingredient, charge appropriately for it, and make racers win with it..... it would be on the market.


If you can't do that .. ^^ .. then you can't sell it, because no one would buy it.
 
Originally Posted By: chrly919
Wasn't hydrazine the C Stoff ingredient in the fuel for the ME 163 Comet of WWII?


I checked and you are correct!

There was also Z-stoff peroxide, M-stoff methanol, and two B-stoffs.
 
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Originally Posted By: Astro14
They did enhance performance. You're thinking of the fuels that the YJ-93 was intended to run on when it was in development for the F-108 Rapier and the XB-70 Valkyrie.

They were both very expensive (6 to 8 times the price per gallon) and very toxic.

Oh, and I think they can be hypergolic (exploding on contact with air). The SR-71 used a hypergolic compound, tri-ethyl borane, to ignite the JP-7 in the J-58 engine. The JP-7 fuel had such a high flashpoint, so that it wouldn't pose a fire risk with the skin heat of the SR-71, that a spark plug wound not ignite it reliably, so the TEB was injected into the combustors for engine start and into the AB for AB ignition. The limited TEB supply necessitated a counter, so that pilots would know how many AB "light-offs" remained available in flight.

So, expensive, toxic, and prone to explosion if they come in contact with air.

The USAF abandoned the zip fuels in the early 1960s...

And there is no way I want to see this stuff at my local SUNOCO...I've seen enough goobers filling up their cars that I have no desire to be near a guy pumping hypergolic, toxic zip fuel...

Thank you for taking the time to make this well thought-out post. I appreciate it.
 
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