Molecular-Sieve Type 3Å

The term "Molecular-Sieve Type 3Å" denotes a clay-based, zeolite material that revolutionizes a fluid-purification process by removing trace water and iron from nitrogen tetroxide/nitric oxide (MON-3) mixtures used as oxidizer components of spacecraft propellants. Older processes of this type removed only water or iron effectively, but never both. Because contamination of nitrogen tetroxide by trace amounts of water elevates the corrosion level of spacecraft hardware, the reduction of such contamination decreases the cost of facility maintenance and increases propellant-storage time. Consequent further benefits include increases in the usable lifetimes of rocket engines, flight components, deep-space probes, and satellites, along with reductions in their failure rates. All this is achieved by a process that involves the use of a revolutionary material and that supplants less-effective, energy-intensive distillation process.